


Into the Black

by DangerousCommieSubversive



Category: Firefly, Young Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Big Damn Heroes, Crimes & Criminals, Exploration, F/F, F/M, Fugitives, M/M, Mashup, Mental Health Issues, let's all be really excited ok, space travel, thrilling heroics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-11-29 00:32:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 44,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DangerousCommieSubversive/pseuds/DangerousCommieSubversive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mercenary space captain Kate Bishop's got a loyal crew (<em>mostly</em>), an unreliable space ship (<em>hey don't you say that Dawn's Archer is perfect</em>), some unresolved anger issues (<em>some faces that need grinding that is</em>), and a lot of moral gray areas that she likes to play around in as she roams the galaxy, taking whatever jobs she can find. When her ship takes on some unusual passengers, however, everything goes completely off the rails.</p><p>This is it! It's the Young Avengers/Firefly mashup that you've always wanted even if you never knew it!</p><p>Relationship tags and archive warnings subject to change as I write more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hawkingbird

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Billywick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Billywick/gifts).



> This one's for you, [Billywick](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Billywick). And I have the worrying feeling that it may go on forever.

The Mockingbird-class transport ship is a twenty five year old model, long since discontinued in favor of ships larger, sturdier, and more suited to long space voyages. Most still in service are parasites to larger ships, following the big Avengers cruisers like pilot fish after vast red sharks. They act as supplementary cargo bays, no more, and they break frequently.

The Dawn's Archer, however, purrs like a kitten in a patch of sunlight, and it can run nonstop from one end of the verse to another.

Most days, that is.

First stop, the cockpit. “Teddy, what are you _doing?_ ”

Teddy looked up from the controls briefly. “Not too much, Captain. Just, uh, little bit shaky hitting atmo. Some of the stabilizers aren't responding. We'll all be fine, though. Unless we're not.”

Next stop, the engine room. “Nate! What the _hell_ is going on?”

Nate was leaning over a hatch on the engine, cooing to the machinery. He didn't look up. “I've told you, Captain, if you don't get me the parts I need it's going to be very hard to keep this bird in the air.”

“Well, get it working before we all die!”

“I'll do what I can, Captain. You don't have any chewing gum and string, do you? That might help.” Her withering glare was lost on his hunched back, his hands busy inside the hatch. “It's ok, baby, we'll be fine. I'm not gonna let you crash.”

Kate rolled her eyes, scowling, and stormed out.

America caught her in the hall. “Captain, what's going on?”

She made a face. “I don't even _know,_ Missy. My boat's falling apart under my _feet._ At this rate we'll be lucky if we touch down on Madripoor in one piece.”

“Come on, Kate.” America grinned. “When are we not lucky? We're the luckiest crew in the sky.”

A shout emanated from one of the crew cabins. “We'll be the luckiest crew on the _ground_ soon if this boat keeps rocking!”

“Shut up, Eli!” Kate ran a hand through her hair angrily. “Get to the shuttle. Tell Cassie to be ready to detach if this all goes south. I'm going back up to the cockpit.”

“If you crash the boat I'm taking all your things!”

“Shut up, Eli!” She twisted back toward the engine room. “Nate! Keep it moving!”

\--

_Now, see, once there was this group, the Avengers, right? And when the Earth could no longer sustain us they helped move us out to the stars, and we found worlds and worlds to live on, and the Avengers took care of us._

_But then there came the Schism. Almost nobody remembers what started it, really. All over some matter of public policy. The two sides, the Mighty Avengers and the New Avengers, they tore the galaxy up with their fighting. In the end the Mighty Avengers came out on top, and they're the ones that run things nowadays. Things are pretty organized._

_Some folk don't hold with that, though. Some folk like a life with a little chaos in it, out in the black. Some folk like to roam free._

_Us, we've got_ Dawn's Archer. _Sweetest ship that ever flew the skies. We do what we can and we take what we must._

_We're the next generation._

_We're the Young Avengers._

\--

They managed to set the ship down without actually _damaging_ it, though the landing wasn't any kind of comfortable and everything was smoking a little around the edges. The crew met up in the cargo hold, Nate clutching a piece of paper. “I'm coming with you into Madripoor, Captain. I need parts for the girl.”

“Not a chance, Nate.” Kate, America, and Eli were busy loading crates onto the mule. “I've got a whole pile of hot merchandise to offload, and I'm not letting you anywhere _near_ our buyer.” She held out her hand. “Give me the list. I'll get you what I can.”

He handed her the piece of paper, sighing. “All right, then. I'll see if I can scare up that gum and string I wanted earlier, do what I can with the engine.”

“Sounds good to me. Do that. Teddy!”

Teddy looked up, startled, from where he was checking the port locks. “Yes, Captain?”

“Special job for you. I want you to get us some passengers while we're gone.”

Everyone turned to stare at her as Teddy said, “Passengers? We _never_ take passengers. We're a freight vessel.”

“We've got passenger quarters, we take passengers. But we need the money, so make sure they're _paying_ passengers. No Mighties, no children. Other than that I trust you.”

He stared for another moment and then said, “Aye, aye, Captain. Paying passengers, coming right up. Lemme just...go get my deck chair.”

\--

Teddy set up his deck chair on the bare ground at the edge of their ramp and settled in for a afternoon of fairly quiet relaxation. He liked watching people anyway; even without real shore leave it was good to be out and about for a bit. Picking passengers would be fun, too.

He scanned the crowds for a likely mark, and as he watched they parted to reveal an older-model robot dressed in red, yellow, and green, with the mark of a local religious order emblazoned on the breast pocket of its robe. It carried several bags, and look slightly distressed by the number of hawkers who attempt to accost it.

It seemed...right.

When the robot got close enough, it stopped to peer at the ship, and Teddy waved. “Hey there! You wanna fly with us.”

\--

_Meanwhile..._

Loki's “office” was starting to feel unacceptably cramped. It had been crowded beforehand, of course, as it was always crowded by Loki and his people, but the available airspace had dropped significantly as soon as America had lunged at the diminutive crime boss and slammed him into the wall. Now, most of the guns in the room were trained on her, but for a few that had been saved to point at Kate and Eli, who stood with their hands at their holsters, staring.

“Look,” America said, in a perfectly calm, reasonable tone. “We went to a _lot_ of trouble getting this salvage for you. We had a _deal._ We get the cargo, you pay us.”

“Of _course,_ Miss A, I understand _completely._ ” Loki smiled pleasantly, apparently unfazed by America's grip on his shoulders. “But I'm a businessman, you see. That cargo is _barbecue heated_ now. It'll be very difficult to move.”

“Is that _our_ problem?”

“Actually, I think it is. You were spotted, you know. One word and I can have the feds come down on your ship like a brick wolf house.”

There was a long pause, and then Eli said, “Like a _what?_ ”

“You attracted attention, I don't have to pay you. The deal was that you'd get me something I can _sell._ ” Loki smiled cheerfully at her. “I can't sell those. If you'd _like,_ though, I know a connection on Masters who'd buy them. She won't pay you as _much_ , of course, but as I recall she's an old friend of yours!" 

\--

They stalked back to the ship towing the still-loaded mule, fresh supplies and the few parts that Kate had been able to obtain stacked on top of their unsold cargo.

Eli was frowning. “Foucault?”

Kate scowled. “She's a...friend of mine.”

America rolled her eyes as they approached the ramp. “She tried to shoot you once.”

“I got better!”

“And then she stole our ship.”

“It was a misunderstanding! We got it back!”

As the mule trundled up to the ramp, they saw that the cargo hold was swarming with dockworkers, who were moving in a large cryo-chamber while a white-haired man in a clearly-expensive green suit yelled at them to, “Be careful! That's a family heirloom!” Several other civilians milled around the hold as well, stowing boxes and getting underfoot.

Teddy waved to Kate and the others when he saw them approaching. “Hey, Captain! I got us passengers!”

Kate looked the passengers over again, quickly, and then edged close enough to mutter, “What, was it a buy-one-get-one at the Albino Store?”

Teddy smiled cheerfully. “Well, the one with the big box is Dr. Maximoff; he's transporting some heirloom taxidermy to his family's summer home on Genosha.”

“Heirloom _taxidermy?_ ” Kate stared at the enormous cryo-chamber, which had finally been firmly settled in the middle of the cargo hold. America and Eli began to unload the mule, which they didn't ask for help with; they were both stronger than her anyway. “What's he transporting, an _elk?_ ”

“And the other one with white hair is Noh-Varr—”

“A _Kree?_ ”

“Yep. He's a bodyguard. Has a job waiting for him on Genosha.”

The Kree in question was looking around the hold with interest. As they watched, he nodded approvingly and said, to no one in particular, “I like the way the walls go out.”

“And that's Mr. Wilson, he's an antique dealer—”

A blonde man in a truly horrendous floral shirt, who was crouched in a corner fussing over some parcels.

“He said he doesn't mind being dropped off at whatever city we stop at next. To be honest, Captain, I think he might be in trouble with the law. Not like that's ever stopped us. And that's Jonas.”

Kate looked at the last passenger and froze, staring. “He's an _android._ You brought an _android_ onto my boat.”

“Captain.” Teddy frowned. “He's a _monk._ He's on a spiritual journey.”

“You brought an _android monk_ onto my boat. Altman, we are going to have a _talk_ later. All right, round them up and I'll give them the speech.”

\-- 

Kate didn't look pleased—but then, America thought, Kate never looked especially pleased when the ship was still on the ground. Teddy had gathered their new passengers in the kitchen after giving them a quick tour of the passenger quarters, and now they stood around the kitchen table (which was going to need that extra leaf if it was going to fit everyone) and watched as she paced back and forth. When it became obvious, after a moment, that she didn't know where to start, America sighed and said, “Everyone, this is Captain Bishop, she's the woman in charge here. I'm America Chavez, I'm second in command. You've already met our pilot, Eli's still stowing cargo, and our engineer is around here...somewhere.”

“He's always around here _somewhere._ ” Kate grinned suddenly. “I think if he could he'd just shrink and live _in_ the engine.”

That broke the tension a little; Mr. Wilson the antique dealer laughed, and Jonas the android monk laid his hand on the wall as if he understood. Dr. Maximoff frowned slightly. “Bishop. Are you related to the Bishops of Baxter Prime?”

“Distantly.” Kate had stopped smiling. “Anyway, Teddy gave you the tour already, so here's what you still need to know. Cargo hold's off-limits to passengers when we're out in the black; so's the engine room and the cockpit. If you need something in one of those places, ask one of us.”

Dr. Maximoff was still frowning. “What about my cryo-chamber? I'll need to check the levels occasionally; that cargo is very delicate.”

“When you need to do that, talk to Miss America, she'll escort you. Meals are in here; we all eat together on the Dawn's Archer. Although,” and here she inclined her head to Jonas as if in politeness, “Brother Jonas, if you're offended by the idea of taking a meal with godless heathens like us, you're _more_ than welcome to eat in your quarters.”

Jonas' eyes flickered, but he said, calmly, “I do not require food, Captain, but I always appreciate good company. I will be happy to eat with the crew.” A pause. “Perhaps my presence will inspire you to some self-exploration.”

“I wouldn't count on that. Anyway, I know two of you are headed for Genosha, but we'll be making a quick stop off at Masters on the way, just to drop off some supplies we've been loaded with.”

That caught the Kree's interest. “Supplies? What kind of supplies?”

“Rations, probably. The Mighties said jump, and I didn't want to argue with them. And—”

A waft of perfume, and America saw the corners of Kate's mouth go tight. _Shit. Don't start now, Kate. Don't start now._

“And here's our.” The sentence ended without an end, and Kate started it again, frowning. “Here's our _goodwill ambassador,_ Cassandra Lang.”

“Goodwill ambassador?” Jonas smiled at Cassie, holding out a hand. “Are you also a priest?”

“Not precisely.” Cassie beamed at him, and for a moment America thought that maybe Kate _wasn't_ going to use the word, maybe this time she'd be able to let the past be past—

“She's a whore. Excuse me, sorry, _registered Companion._ ”

At the captain's comment Cassie had flinched, and Jonas had started back slightly. Dr. Maximoff was blushing, Noh-Varr looked bored, and Mr. Wilson was staring at Cassie with undisguised interest. After a moment Cassie straightened, smiling again, and said, “You know I've always appreciated your ability to be honest, Kate. I think it's one of your best qualities. But maybe you should make sure that next time your guests are prepared for your honesty. I'll be in my shuttle if you want to stop by and be a little more honest.”

She wafted out again, trailing silk behind her.

They all watched her go, and then Kate straightened her back and said, “So. I'm going to track down my engineer and we'll be taking off in half an hour. If you need anything in the cargo hold you've got twenty-five more minutes to get it; be in your quarters five minutes before takeoff. It'll be announced.”

She turned on her heel and strode out.

\--

Mr. Wilson, Thomas decided, was going to be a problem. He hadn't stopped talking since they'd gotten to the passenger quarters and divided up the rooms, and it was really very frustrating. Not what he wanted to deal with when he was on edge like this. Especially because _all_ his talk, non-stop, was about sex.

“Now, there was this _one_ girl, this redhead, now _she_ was a _screamer,_ which, I mean, _wow,_ right? Wow. I'd spend the evening with her and come out _deaf._ And then...” Mr. Wilson settled back on the common room couch, gazing at the ceiling dreamily. “Then there was the one who got away. There's always one, isn't there? Mine was a _doozie._ ”

“What was her name?” said Jonas, in his soft voice.

Mr. Wilson sighed, still starry-eyed. “Nate. But then, you know, there was the _war,_ and we kinda split. I wonder how he's doing.”

The Kree, Thomas noticed, wasn't speaking at all. In fact the Kree—Noh-Var, right—was watching _him._ It made him uncomfortable. _Perhaps he suspects._ “You keep watching me.” He sounded strained, he knew. If someone noticed maybe he could pass it off as fear of flying. “Why do you keep watching me?”

Noh-Varr didn't reply for a moment, and then said, calmly, “I like your suit.”

Thomas forced himself to relax. _He doesn't know. He's just rude like all Kree._

Noh-Varr kept watching him.

\--

Takeoff went better than landing had. Nate, when unearthed, turned out to have been secreted in Cassie's shuttle after an afternoon spent elbow deep in the engine. When Kate showed him the parts she'd gotten for him he made a sort of half-pleased, half-disapproving noise, like a parent thrilled to see that their child has made them a painting but disappointed that said child is now covered in paint, and immediately hauled them back to the engine rooms to go back to work. Fifteen minutes of banging, a triumphant shout, and then he leaned out of the engine room and hollared, “We're good to go, Kate! Up, up, and away!”

Kate grinned and, in turn, shouted to Teddy, “Start her up, Altman! Let's get this bird in the air!”

\--

“So you know who our captain is, right?”

Thomas sighed. “No, Mr. Wilson. Who's our captain?”

“That's Little Hawk Bishop. I looked her up.”

Jonas frowned. “From the war? The one who stayed with General Barton's body at the battle of Dawn's—”

\--

“Aye, aye, Captain! Flight plan already filed! We'll be off the ground and on our way before you can say Skrull invasion!”

“Skrull inva—”

They were off the ground.

Part of it was the gravity changing as they rose through atmo, of course, but Kate could always swear that she felt a weight lift from her shoulders when the ship took off. She raced to the cockpit and bit down the urge to sing. _This is where hawks belong._

Teddy glanced back at her and grinned as he reached for the microphone, the light of suddenly rising stars gleaming off the rings in his ears. “Ladies and gentlemen, old friends and new guests, I'm Teddy Altman and I'll be your pilot for this spaceflight. Welcome to Hawkingbird Air, everyone.”

“Teddy, don't _call_ her that—”

“It's the _only_ way to fly.”


	2. A Matter Of Cargo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit goes down big time. What's in the box, Dr. Maximoff?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took _so long_ for some reason.

“So,” Dr. Maximoff said, picking at his food what looked like a careful balance of anxiety and disgust. “Do you do this often? The stop-off we're making, I mean. This doesn't _look_ like an official Avengers cargo transport, although I suppose it takes _all_ kinds.”

America shrugged and took a sip of her tea. “We get out to a lot of places the official transports don't go. Sometimes we're tapped.”

“Just doing our civic duty, right?” Kate hid her sneer in a forkful of synthetic mashed potatoes.

Dr. Maximoff shifted uncomfortably. “Right. Of course. My family has always felt that doing one's duty is very important.”

“Yes, I've heard of the Maximoffs. Big news on Stark, aren't you?”

“Almost as big as the Bishops.”

There was a lengthy, awkward silence, in which nobody made eye contact and the only sound in the room was the clicking of utensils on plates. Even Mr. Wilson was uncharacteristically silent, although he didn't look as downcast as the others.

Then Nate, who hadn't really been paying attention, swallowed a forkload of food and said, “So. I thought you said there was an android. Where is he? I wanted to talk to him.”

Eli shrugged. “He said he didn't need to eat. Not sure where he went.”

\--

At the light tap on the door of her shuttle Cassie looked up, surprised, and pulled her robe back on. It couldn't be Kate, because Kate never knocked, and in any case everyone else was probably at dinner. “Come in.”

The door swung open, and when she saw who it was she sighed. “Are you here to scold me? I don't think you'll be able to tell me anything I haven't already heard from Kate and my mother.”

“Uh...no.” The android stared at her wide-eyed and held up a tray. “You weren't there so...I brought you dinner.”

Cassie blinked. And then...blushed. How long had it been since she blushed? But it was so rare to receive such a gesture from anyone. She'd followed in her father's footsteps and become a Companion because kindness was so rare in the universe; it was heartening to see it from someone unprompted. Besides Nate. Actually the android reminded her a lot of Nate. “Thank you.”

The android hung his head, shuffling his feet like a schoolboy. “You're very welcome. The universe is a dark place full of many terrors.”

“The universe is a bright place and filled with a lot of good, too.” She moved to one side. “Here. Sit with me and tell me about what's going on in Madripoor. I'm Cassie.”

“I'm Vi...” the android paused, uncertain. “Jonas. I'm Jonas.”

\-- 

The Cortex terminal booted up with minimal fuss, and after a few minutes of scowling at her contacts Kate successfully located Jeanne Foucault's message. A light blinked next to it; Jeanne was online and willing to talk. She pulled up the window.

Jeanne didn't smile at her. “Bishop.”

“Jeannie. How are things on Masters?”

“The planet is fine.” Jeanne still wasn't smiling, just watching her with narrowed eyes. “How's your leg?”

“It aches during solar flares. Why? Were you planning on shooting me again?”

“If I have to.”

“That's not a good price you're offering, by the way. Hardly an incentive for me to go out of my way to drop this stuff with you.”

“Please. If you wanted a good price you wouldn't have come to me. You want the merchandise gone. I want it here. It's nova hot. You'll sell it to me and be happy with what you get.”

“I want double what you're offering. Twenty thousand at least.”

“You can have thirteen thousand and be happy about it.”

“Eighteen.”

“Fourteen.”

“Sixteen and a half.”

“Fifteen.”

“I'll sell it for fifteen if you throw in some ship repairs.”

“Done.” _Now_ Jeanne was smiling; she looked pleased with how things had gone, which worried Kate. “I'll—see—you—”

The Cortex transmission had gone choppy as it cut off. Kate frowned. Nobody else should have been using the system; even Cassie wouldn't be on this late, since they wouldn't be anywhere with clients for her for at least a week yet. She reached for the activity monitor.

Then, suddenly, the comm next to her elbow buzzed into life, and Nate's voice over it said, _“Captain! Emergency! Someone just sent out an Avengers enforcement-frequency alert with our location and the details of everyone on board.”_

“ _What?_ Who sent it?”

_“One of the passengers.”_

“Was it—”

 _“_ Not _the android. Ult-class androids like that have a very distinctive signature. One of the others.”_

She grimaced. “Maximoff.” She'd thought the rich kid looked sketchy, and the Maximoff family was known for being untrustworthy. They'd swung this way and that during the war, and her father had always liked them, which said nothing good about their character. Why would he want to fly on the cheap unless he was planning something? Who else would have an Avengers frequency on tap? The Kree had no love for the Avengers, and Mr. Wilson didn't seem smart enough to call out for pizza, let alone work for law enforcement. “You shut the alert down, right?”

_“Soon as I could, but I don't know how much got through. Or who sent it.”_

“Don't worry about it, Nate.” She pushed her chair back from the terminal and rolled her neck. “ _I'll_ take care of that.”

–

Thomas fidgeted anxiously with his portable Cortex interface, checking and re-checking the information he'd been given on the functioning of the cryo-chamber. If at all possible he hoped they'd get to Genosha before the week was out; that would give him a few days to get his cargo to a safe place before he had to...defrost and look at the damage.

Noh-Varr was watching him again.

He felt his face grow red. The Kree spoke the common tongue passably well, but he was certainly far from home. Thomas' knowledge of the customary courtesies was shaky at best, and his accent in Kree was atrocious, but...perhaps it wouldn't hurt to make friends? He cleared his throat and said, in Kree, “<Where are you bound?>”

The Kree raised an eyebrow at him before responding in English. “I am going to Genosha, the same as you.”

Inwardly Thomas sighed with relief, although he was somewhat embarrassed to think that his accent was _that_ bad. “Yes, right. I heard you have work there.”

“As a guard.” The Kree smiled faintly. “Maybe I'll meet your family, hm?”

 _God, oh god, he knows, what if he knows. What do I say? What's polite to ask a Kree here?_ “Maybe. What's your parentage?”

Another long look, and then Noh-Varr said, “Above my fortunes, but my state is well. I am a gentleman. Of a kind.”

 _Not_ what he'd expected, and it brought a smile to Thomas' face. “You're quoting. That's Shakespeare, isn't it?”

“Yes. From _Twelfth Night._ My favorite of your Bard's plays.” Noh-Varr's face took on a distant look. “That and _The Tempest._ I too was once a victim of a great shipwreck.”

“Oh.”

It seemed that maybe, maybe they'd have something to talk about. Noh-Varr was going to Genosha alongside him, and Thomas still had a little money saved; perhaps he could lure the Kree away from his contract and hire him as a guard while he transported his...cargo. Thomas wouldn't be able to _trust_ him, of course, but it would be good to have company. He set aside his Cortex handheld and leaned forward. “So, what brings you to this end of space?”

This was, of course, when Captain Bishop showed up.

She was in a cold rage, so cold that it looked like the water in the air should have been crystallizing on her, and when she saw the handheld on the table beside him her eyes narrowed. “Maximoff, we need to have a _talk._ ”

He started to his feet. She was really an extraordinarily attractive woman, and normally he would have appreciated that, but she looked like she wanted to _eat_ him. “Captain Bishop. I _doubt_ we have anything to talk about.”

“ _Sure_ we do. Sent any waves lately?”

“Have I—no, you idiot, I've been here the whole time! Who would I have been messaging?”

“Old _family friends,_ maybe? Because _someone_ here has a direct line to Avengers enforcement, and I'm _pretty sure_ it's not me!”

Thomas' eyes went wide, as near his elbow the Kree stood and started very quietly moving towards the door. “Avengers _enforcement? Me?_ Why would _I_ be contacting them? _You're_ the one who's always running errands! Did you start missing Daddy's money after you lost the war, _Miss Bishop?_ ”

It was at this point that Captain Bishop's fist connected with his chin.

He reeled backward, falling to the floor, and before he could stand the captain was on top of him, one hand on his collar, the other pulled back to punch again and—

“So hey, guys. What's going on in _this_ spaciously appointed smuggling vessel?”

“Mr. Wilson, this is not the—oh.” Captain Bishop had looked up and directly into the long barrel of a gun, which Mr. Wilson was pointing directly at her head. He had another gun trained on Thomas. “Did _you_ send that wave?”

Thomas' eyes darted from the captain to Mr. Wilson. “What wave?”

“ _Some_ one sent out a message alerting the nearest Avengers enforcement patrol about who's on this ship. I'm not _saying_ it was me, but...ok, yeah, I'm saying it was me. I get all the credit.” Mr. Wilson smiled cheerfully at him. “I was only after _you._ The captain here's just sort of a bonus. Not even a very big one.”

Thomas looked around frantically for Noh-Varr, who had disappeared, while Captain Bishop said, “You're after _him?_ ”

“Well, _yeah._ He stole whatever thing's in that icebox. _He's_ a fugitive from justice. Not that you're _not,_ but...well, _anyway,_ I think it's time for us to all head to the cargo bay, _nice_ and quiet, and we'll stop the ship and wait for the Avengers to show up.” Captain Bishop opened her mouth to argue, and Mr. Wilson gestured dramatically with his gun. “Or you could argue and I could shoot you. Either way works.”

Captain Bishop shut her mouth and stood, helping Thomas up while not at _any_ point taking her eyes off Mr. Wilson. Thomas rubbed at the spreading bruise on his jaw and said, “I'm not going anywhere with you.”

“You know, the reward's a _lot_ smaller if I shoot you, but I'll still get one. I'll shoot a rich kid! I don't care!”

Thomas gritted his teeth, staring down the barrel of the gun pointed at his nose, and said nothing.

They'd gotten halfway to the cargo bay by the time anyone realized that anything was wrong. America emerged from the crew hallway half-dressed and scowling and stopped short when she saw Mr. Wilson pointing guns at Thomas and Captain Bishop. Mr. Wilson grinned at her and waggled the gun trained on Captain Bishop's head. “Hi, Miss A! I'm sure as a seasoned military professional you're familiar with the specifics of this situation!”

She raised an eyebrow. “If I make a move, you'll shoot?”

“Exactly! I _knew_ you were smart!”

Captain Bishop rolled her eyes.

“ _Actually,_ how about if you don't come _with_ us I'll shoot! Come on, cargo bay's this way!”

By the time they'd reached the cargo bay they'd also picked up Nate, who trailed along behind them like a lost puppy, looking simultaneously nervous and intrigued in a way that was really starting to get on Thomas' nerves. Actually, what was _really_ irritating was that the engineer looked almost _pleased_ that something was happening. As if this was exciting. As if it was all a joke. It was _incredibly_ irritating, and it put Thomas even more on edge, and so when Mr. Wilson _turned_ to Nate and said, “So, you're the smart one! You know how to work a cryo-chamber, right? Because we'll need his taxidermy thing opened up,” Thomas nearly chewed through his own lip.

Nate nodded, looking puzzled, and then the speaker by the door crackled and the pilot—Teddy—said, _“Captain, I'm picking up signs of an approaching Avengers vessel. Should I drop us off the radar?”_

Mr. Wilson gestured with his gun, and Captain Bishop scowled, hit the comm button, and said, “No, Teddy. I actually need you to stop and wait for it.”

_“You want me to...wait for the Avengers? Just...like that?”_

“Teddy, one of the passengers is holding a gun on me. This _really_ isn't the time to argue.”

_“Oh. Shit. Ok, stopping us now.”_

There was a subtle but perceptible lurch as the ship stopped moving.

\--

At that point several things happened very quickly.

Cassie and Jonas emerged from Cassie's shuttle, smiling and talking quietly, and stopped short when they saw Mr. Wilson holding guns on other denizens of the ship.

A gun cocked in the doorway behind Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Wilson whirled and shot in one fluid motion and Eli, who had been the one cocking his gun, fell to the ground, blood spreading from the sudden wound in his stomach.

Cassie screamed.

America moved forward so quickly that it almost seemed there should have been a sonic boom, her foot connecting with the back of Mr. Wilson's head, and the bounty hunter fell on his face, unconscious. His guns clattered across the floor as Kate darted over to Eli's side, cradling his head in her lap. “Eli! Eli, look at me.”

Eli looked up at her blearily and grinned. “Heya, Katie. Did Mr. Wilson just shoot me?”

“Yeah. Yeah, he did. Right in your massive gut.” She rested her hands on the sides of his face, trying not to bite her lip or show him how worried she was. “Shouldn't sneak up behind people like that, you creep.”

“Hey, go to hell, I'm in great shape.” He didn't stop grinning. “Mr. Wilson, though. Didn't think...didn't think he even looked smart enough to order takeout.”

“Hey, stay with me, jerkboy.”

The others were getting there now, all of them coming near except for America, who was sitting on Mr. Wilson's back, and Dr. Maximoff, who was staring at them in consternation.

Kate's eyes narrowed. “Hey! Maximoff! _You're_ the one who brought this all on. Fix him up!”

 _“Captain Bishop.”_ Teddy's voice on the comm. _“We're being hailed.”_

Dr. Maximoff was standing frozen, staring at the blood on Eli's shirt, and suddenly he said, “Punch it. Get us away.”

America twisted around to look at him, horrified. “You're a _doctor—_ ”

“Get us out of here or I'll stand here and _watch_ him bleed to death! I will _help_ him bleed to death!” The color had drained from Dr. Maximoff's face completely, and his eyes were wild. “I worked in the busiest ER on Stark, I _know_ what a gut shot does to someone. I've watched people die in _agony_. Turn the ship around. Full _fucking_ speed.”

Kate stared at the doctor for a moment and then said, “Nate. Hit the comm. Tell Teddy to get us to Masters as fast as he possibly can.”

Nate ran to the comm, and before he'd even finished relaying Kate's order Dr. Maximoff was next to her, his hands moving so fast that they blurred as they cut Eli's shirt away with Eli's own knife. He looked up and caught Jonas' eye. “My room. Black suitcase, Staff of Asclepius. Ms. Lang, your robe. Captain Bishop, don't pick him up until I say so, and if _anyone_ gets near my elbows I will _personally_ dislocate their shoulder.”

A footstep in the hall behind them was Noh-Varr, who had finally reappeared, two surprisingly small pistols in hand. “Is there anything I can do to assist?”

America nodded grimly. “How would you like to earn a free fare?”

“Certainly.”

“Watch _him._ Get him locked up in one of the passenger rooms— _not_ the one with his luggage.” She got up off Mr. Wilson's back.

As they carried Eli down the hall to the infirmary, Mr. Wilson stirred, groaning, and Noh-Varr put both his guns into one hand and hit a small button on one of them.

They combined into one _very large_ gun.

He nodded calmly to Mr. Wilson and lowered his massive gun to point it at the other man's head. “I see you're awake, Mr. Wilson. Would you like to meet my friend Merree?”

\--

Emergency surgery took three hours, and by the time Dr. Maximoff was washing the blood off of his hands and Eli was drowsing in a sedative-induced sleep the ship was well on its way to Masters and true fugitive status. Kate sat perched on one of the infirmary counters, scowling darkly, while the crew members huddled outside in the hallway, peering in through the window. Cassie stood with Nate, clasping his hand tightly, and Jonas was on the other side of the infirmary bed, having been drafted to assist in the surgery—being an android, he had the steadiest hands and most reliable eyesight.

As soon as Dr. Maximoff had dried his hands, Kate hopped down and seized him by the back of his shirt.

“What the—let _go_ of me, you _psychotic_ lowlife!”

 _“Lowlife?”_ She twisted her fingers in his collar and began towing him towards the cargo bay, the others following behind her, startled. “Who's missing Daddy's money _now,_ huh? What'd you steal? Was it drugs? Arms? Did Mommy cut you off? I've _heard_ of Wanda Maximoff, she's a fucking _lunatic._ Does she have you running contraband? Did you swipe someone's _kid?_ ”

They'd reached the cargo bay now, and she let go of him with a shove that sent him stumbling into the wall and hurried to the cryo-chamber, hitting the emergency open button so hard that her knuckles bruised. A tiny klaxon shrieked, and as the lid raised Dr. Maximoff started forward with a shout of, “Don't! You might—”

The lid came off, and Kate stared down at the contents of the box, baffled, as sublimation mist rolled out. “ _This_ is what rich kids get up to on Stark now? You stole your own _clone?_ Didn't feel like _paying_ for your illegal organ backup?”

“He's not my—”

There was the sharp hiss of someone breathing in, and then a burst of blue light from the open cryo-chamber as the naked man inside _floated_ out of it, screaming at the top of his lungs. His eyes glowed blue, and then dimmed, and he landed with a thump on the floor. Dr. Maximoff darted forward in another burst of impossible speed, and the naked man clutched at the front of his shirt and stammered, “I, I, I couldn't control, I can't control it _IwanttogohomeIwanttogohomeIwanttogohome_ I can't make it _work!_ ”

“William—Billy. Billy, it's _me._ ” Dr. Maximoff pressed their foreheads together, eyes wide, looking strained. “It's _me,_ it's _Tommy,_ it's ok. Right? Hey, it's ok. _I'm_ supposed to be the one who freaks out all the time. You have your shit together. Right?”

Nate was staring at the man from the cryo-chamber, eyes wide. “Wait. Billy... _Tommy._ _Maximoff._ You're the _Maximoff twins!_ The prodigies! I thought your brother went missing during the war!”

The others gazed at the two men in disbelief, and finally America managed to say, “You stole your _brother?_ _That's_ what you stole? How do you steal your _brother?_ ”

Teddy was already taking off his coat, hurrying over to wrap it around the naked man's shoulders, and Dr. Maximoff looked up at them with an expression that suggested he was about to spontaneously combust. “Can we talk about this after I make sure Captain _Bishop_ hasn't done any _damage?_ ”

“Sure...” Kate looked horrified. “Sure. We can wait.”

\--

In the passenger quarters, Mr. Wilson looked from the massive gun still trained on him to Noh-Varr's face and said, cheerfully, “I know who you are.”

Noh-Varr nodded. “Yes. And I know who _you_ are.”

“How do you figure this helps _you_ out any?”

“Well, the longer fugitives like these are out there, the more the reward for their capture goes _up._ ” Noh-Varr shifted his grip on his gun, briefly revealing a barcode tattooed on the inside of his arm. “And the Kree way is only to bargain from a position of strength.”


	3. Thinking Out Of The Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations are given and cargo is dropped off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The shipping. The SHIPPING. It begins!

Once the man from the box had been examined and, for the moment, sedated and left in the infirmary, Kate hauled Dr. Maximoff to the dining area by his arm, the others trailing behind them curiously. She shoved him into a chair, eyes wide. _“Explain.”_

He stared up at her for a moment and said, “All right, first things first. I'm a fucking genius.”

She snorted, leaning back against the table. “And you're so _modest._ ”

“I'm a trauma surgeon, you idiot, modesty wouldn't even be slightly useful for me. If I didn't have a god complex do you think I could even get _near_ an open chest cavity? Look, my _point_ is, I'm a genius, and so's Billy. I'm quicker than Billy is, but he...he's got _intuition._ When he puts thngs together it's like magic. That's why they wanted him.”

“Who wanted him?”

“I'm _getting_ to that.” Dr. Maximoff scowled at her. “When we were in college, during the war, he was invited to join a special government research project, HAMMER-sponsored. It was a great honor. I was invited too, but I was in the middle of my internship and couldn't go. So Billy went alone, and he...disappeared. Completely off the radar. At first I though it was just war censorship, but then...”

Everyone was holding their breath. Cassie was gripping Nate's arm tightly as she said, “But then?”

“The war ended. And still no sign of him. And then I _collapsed,_ in the middle of _surgery,_ and the next day I got a message from him. Just seven words. 'Hurting me. Want you too. Please help.'” Dr. Maximoff stared at the wall blindly, looking haunted. “That was _four years ago._ And I only found him last _week._ My contacts located him in a _testing facility._ ”

 

\--

 

Teddy hurried to the infirmary as soon as they were safely on course, the autopilot tearing through space as fast as it could go. Eli waved drowsily to him from the surgery bed when he skidded to a halt in the doorway. “Heya, hayseed. How's it flying?”

“On our way to Masters ahead of schedule.” Teddy sucked in a deep breath. “What _happened?_ ”

“Got shot.” Eli grinned. “Not like that's anything new.”

“By _who,_ though?”

“Wilson. The antiques dealer. He's a bounty hunter.”

“Looking for Kate?”

“No.” Eli waved to the long-term care alcove. “Looking for _him._ ”

Teddy turned to look, and the breath left him in a rush.

The man asleep in the LT bed was identical to the doctor and yet opposite, a photo where the doctor was a color-drained negative. His dark hair fell over his face in a cloud, uncut and ragged, and his jaw was unshaven, but beneath the bangs and stubble was a face so beautiful that Teddy thought he could actually feel his heart stuttering in his chest. “Who's that?”

“What the doctor was smuggling. Some stolen treasure, huh?” Eli's laugh was cut off by a wince. “You know, sometimes I think I should've stayed in library school. By now I'd have a nice, quiet archives job and no gut wound.” He waited for a response and got none. “Hayseed? You still with me?”

Teddy shook himself, tearing his gaze away from where the red silk of Cassie's robe reflected warm light on the sleeping man's face. “Library school. Yeah.”

“...oh, come on, Ted, don't go falling in love with fugitives. Especially not unconscious ones. That's just creepy.”

“Sorry.” Teddy blushed. “He just...took me by surprise.”

“He did that to all of us, my hayseed friend.” Eli shifted and winced again. “Seems like it's a day for surprises.”

 

\--

 

“What did you tell them, Wilson? What do they know?”

“Get that thing out of my face and maybe we'll talk.”

“You're the legendary Wade Wilson. Surely you can handle a gun in your face. Do they know that _I'm_ here?”

“...no. I was figuring that'd be a suprise. Three bounties in one, y'know? I would've been a rich man. Could've _named_ my price.”

 

\--

 

_“Touchdown on Masters in one hour. Everyone get somewhere secure for the drop through atmo. Please keep all hands and feet inside the spaceship.”_

They landed on Masters several hours ahead of schedule, to Jeanne's suspicious pleasure over the comms, and readied their cargo for transport. After the abortive trip to make the sale on Madripoor, they'd barely even unpacked the mule, so everything was ready to go fairly quickly; the drop-off was all that remained.

The rendezvous point was a barren gulch, lined with skulls along the tops of the ridges and with very few points of entry or exit. It was the perfect place for an ambush, and Kate knew it, sneering at the décor as she and America rode in. Once they were parked she sent out the agreed-upon signal, liking her surroundings less and less.

A few minutes later, Jeanne Foucault rode in mounted on a tall stallion, and flanked by three compatriots whom Kate recognized vaguely—a hulking man with some kind of disfigurement that rendered his skin red and shiny, a smaller man with a white streak in his hair and a nasty smile, and a slim woman in some kind of hazmat suit. _They_ seemed almost entertained by the entire situation, but Jeanne just nodded, unsmiling. “Bishop.”

“Jeannie.” Kate shaded her eyes; it was unfortunate that she'd gotten stuck facing the sun. But then, that was probably how Jeanne had wanted it. “Good to see you in the flesh.”

“Flesh is unreliable. I prefer a meeting of the minds. I hear you had some trouble on the flight.”

“You heard wrong. Got my fifteen thousand?”

Jeanne produced a purse and held it up, shaking it so they could hear the jingle. “Right here. Got my cargo?”

“White hot and ready to unload, Jeannie. Let's make the trade.”

“Sample me.”

Kate rolled her eyes, pulled a bar from one of the crates, and tossed it over.

Jeanne caught it with one hand, pulled back the wrapper, and took a deep sniff. “Mm. Richards always does make the best seed. All right, then.”

“So, toss me the—”

“Striker?” The man with the nasty smile nodded and raised a hand, and lightning struck the sand in front of the mule. The horses shied, but Jeanne kept hers tightly under control, her hands tight on the reins. She began to put the purse back in her pocket. “You're wanted, Bishop. Leave the cargo and get off my planet and I won't fry your transport and signal the Mighties that you're here. I hear there are fine bounties on the other cargo you carry.”

Kate didn't move, though she did have to focus hard to ignore the burning smell of sand melting into glass where the lightning had hit. “You know, Jeannie, your problem is that you're predictable.”

Jeanne's nostrils flared, and her eyes went wide. “I am _not._ ”

“You're _so_ predictable. You only ever smile when you think you've tricked me.”

“I know _every_ move you might make, Bishop—”

“Well, yeah. Of course you do.” Kate grinned at her. “But I made this new friend. Her name's Merree. You don't know _her._ ”

Jeanne blinked several times, rapidly. “That's a Kree name. You don't have any Kree with you.”

“Well, no. Not that _you_ can see.”

There was a barely audible whistling noise, and then the lightning-thrower fell from his horse with a shout, clutching at the wound that had suddenly appeared in his left bicep. Then the woman in the suit fell, and then the large man with the red skin, who didn't bleed, but who did howl in rage when his horse landed on top of him.

Jeanne had drawn a knife, snarling, but before she could throw it at them, Kate had shot _her,_ sending her toppling to the ground with her horse on top of her, her knife in the sand ten yards away, and a bullet in her wrist. “See, I may not have the firepower that Merree does, but I _do_ aim better.”

A tiny voice in her earpiece said, _“No you don't. If I was firing from that close I could have hit their wrists too. Don't mistake close-range small-arms fire for long-range sniper work.”_

“Not the time!” She divested Jeanne of the purse she'd been shown, plus another purse hidden inside her vest containing what looked like another fifteen thousand, while America unloaded the mule at a rapid clip behind her. “No hard feelings, right, Jeannie?”

Jeanne spat at her. “When did you grow a brain, Bishop?”

“I think it was probably around when you shot me the first time.”

 _“Captain Bishop!”_ _Not_ Noh-Varr's voice, but Teddy's, and Kate straightened sharply. _“Enforcement on our tail! Get on the mule and we'll pick you up!”_

“Shit.” She tucked both purses into her shirt, waved to Jeanne, and ran back to the mule, diving into the front passenger's seat. “Missy! Punch it! Back to the ship!”

America kicked the last crate onto the sand and leaped behind the wheel, and the mule whirled, barely retaining its traction. It wasn't really designed to move like this, but move it did. As they sped out of the gulch there was a _thump_ , and Kate twisted around to see that Noh-Varr had _jumped_ from the top of the ridge and landed in the back. He was disassembling his massive gun as they roared towards the ship, one of the smaller component guns going into a holster at his waist, and he turned and fired off a last shot towards an approaching rider—the woman in the hazmat suit—as they rode up the ramp. Green light spilled from her wound as she fell.

The ramp was closing, and Kate turned back and looked straight into the point of a _sword._

America said, “Uh. Katie? Mr. Wilson got out.”

“Yeah, I _noticed._ ” Her eyes crossed as she tried to focus on the sword. “Are you _seriously_ waving a katana at me?”

“Hey, _this_ is an _antique._ ” Mr. Wilson looked offended. “You know how hard it is to find babies like these? Anyway, put 'em up and let's sit tight and wait for the Avengers. I've had a _really_ bad day.”

Three shots rang out simultaneously. One took him on the side of the neck, the second hit him in the stomach, and the third, from _behind_ him, slammed into the back of his knee. He made a startled gurgling noise, stumbled, and fell.

Kate looked up from her smoking gun in shock. “Eli! You aren't supposed to be up yet!”

Eli grinned at her. “I can't miss every party. Here. There's his bag, let's get him out of here.”

America parked the mule while Eli, Kate, and Noh-Varr dragged the almost-certainly-dead bounty hunter to the last remaining hatch on the cargo bay and shoved him out, sending his bag falling after him as the ship lifted up off the ground.

When the hatch was shut, Kate turned to Eli and stared in horror at the spreading bloodstain on his stomach. “You _idiot._ You ripped out your stitches!”

“Yeah, but...” And he fainted.

 

\--

 

As Eli was being rushed to the infirmary for a second round of emergency surgery, Teddy was bent over the console in the cockpit of the ship, listening to Nate swear a blue streak on the intercom as together they tried to get the ship up and out of the atmosphere. On his (not _technically_ illegal) frequency tracker, the approaching enforcement ships blinked nearer and nearer, and the ship was _fighting_ him. It was off the ground, but it didn't want to go higher, and as he tapped frantically at the buttons on the dashboard for any kind of power boost he could hear Nate saying, _“I_ knew _I should have gone into the city with them! I knew it! Pym drive's gone straight to hell, and the captain wouldn't know a good ship piece if it came up and_ bit _her!”_

Teddy bit his lip. “Anything you can do, Nate? They're gaining fast.”

 _“All on you, genius._ You're _the flying ace. It's all I can do to keep the girl from blowing up in my face.”_

“Well, don't let that happen. An explosion right now would _really_ cramp my style.”

He pulled up and managed to gain a little more altitude, but it wasn't coming fast enough, and then there was a jolt and Nate started swearing again, in several different languages.

“Let me.”

Startled, Teddy turned.

In the typically unused copilot's chair was the man from the infirmary, now clean-shaven and wearing what looked like a set of Eli's old pajamas with Cassie's red silk robe over them. His mouth was tight at the corners and his eyes were wild, and he leaned forward and placed one hand gently on the dashboard. “Mockingbird-class transport ship, mark seven, discontinued. Common but illegal modifications for speed and stealth. Old engine. Faulty compression coil. Damaged transmission. Wiring needs replacing.”

Teddy stared at him. “That's our Hawkingbird, yeah. Shouldn't you be lying down, or something? I heard you've had a...a tough time.”

“No no. I need to be here. This is home.” The man ran his fingers over the dash in a way that almost looked like a caress, and some trick of the light made his eyes oscillate from brown to a vivid blue. _“Healhealhealhealheal...”_

“I'm sorry, I know you want to help, but Hawky's not something you can fix by laying on—”

There was a sudden _clunk_ noise, and tendrils of blue lightning covered the cockpit for a second before fading, and then Nate was crowing on the intercom, _“That's my girl! That's my baby! Three cheers for bubblegum and string!”_

“Try it now.”

This time, when he pulled back on the steering mechanism, they rose smoothly through the air, and he could swing them out of the way of shots from the anti-air emplacements with ease. “That...that feels _much_ better. What'd you do?”

The man from the infirmary smiled at Teddy, and he felt his heart jump again. “She's a good ship.”

“That she is.” Teddy grabbed his microphone as they raced for the stars. “Hawkingbird Air is in service once more, people!”

 

\--

 

They were out of the reach of the enforcement ships for now, sailing on into the darkness, and Thomas wasn't sure whether he was angry or relieved. “Are you still taking us to Genosha?”

Captain Bishop rolled her eyes. “We _filed_ that flight plan, moron. They know that's where we were going. For a genius you're really stupid.”

Thomas flipped her off. “Trying saying that after _you've_ kept someone's intestines in. Where's my brother?”

“He's up in the front with Teddy, looking for constellations. Apparently he likes it in the cockpit.”

“Where _are_ you taking us?”

She made a face. “I'm not taking _you_ anywhere. I just saved your ass _twice,_ I'm not dropping you off somewhere to get arrested right off. We're taking Eli to see Mr. Universe, get some down time to keep him from ripping open his stomach again. Sorry, Noh-Varr,” to the Kree, who was perched on the kitchen counter, “looks like you're going to have to break your contract, we can't risk a landing on Genosha right now. We can drop you at the next port.”

Noh-Varr shrugged. “It doesn't matter. I'll continue to sail with you, if that's all right. I like this ship.”

Captain Bishop blinked. “All right, then, if you want to. I can't really pay you, you know.”

“I have money. I don't mind.”

“Right...what about you, Jonas?”

The android paused in the doorway that led to the passenger quarters. “I'll stay as well, if I'm welcome. I think there may be people on board who need my counsel.”

“That'll be the day, but stay if you want. Not like you eat anything.” Captain Bishop ran a hand through her hair, scowling. “Now if you'll all excuse me, Missy and I need to go have a talk with Eli about how he _wants_ to go stay with Mr. Universe. And we all need some sleep.” She stalked out.

Jonas left as well, heading to the passenger quarters with barely a glance back at them, and then the only ones left in the room were Thomas and Noh-Varr.

And Noh-Varr was _watching_ him again.

Finally, he said, _“What?”_

“Nothing.”

“Why did you get on this ship if you don't care about getting to the place you said you were going to?”

“I had no business in Genosha. I picked this ship because I saw _you_ getting on it.”

Thomas froze. “You what.” _He's a hunter, he's a hunter, Wilson wasn't the one we needed to be worried about, I'm trapped with a bounty hunter._ “What the hell kind of a reason is _that?_ ”

Noh-Varr stared at him for another moment and then ducked his head oddly. “You are...desirable.”

“I'm—oh. _Oh._ ” Thomas could feel blood rushing to his face, could feel his ears going hot. “Well. That's. That's something. Excuse me, I need to go find my brother.”

He hurried out. Noh-Varr watched him intently as he went.

And the ship sailed on.


	4. Fugitives and Runaways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Bishop and her crew are contracted to retrieve a girl who ran away from home after a fight with her parents. Seems simple, right? But where's the fun in life without a moral grey area?

“I just can't get the hang of that Mr. Universe guy.” America leaned in the cockpit door, staring out at the stars. “I always feel like he's up to something.”

Teddy shrugged. “He seems ok to me, for a scary Big-Brother type. He's taking care of Eli, at least. Takes a while to recover from a gut wound like that.”

“I don't trust him.”

“Well, I mean, that's you. We could ask Batman what _he_ thinks.”

“Teddy, I'm not talking to your—”

“What _do_ you think, Batman? Is Mr. Universe an ok guy?”

The Batman figure gazed at them solemnly from the dashboard and said nothing.

“Aha! Bats has no comment! What about you, Guy Gardner? Thoughts on Mr. Universe?”

That action figure didn't say anything either, though the light did gleam ominously on its little bowl cut. America buried her face in her hands.

“Hawkgirl, what do you—what are you doing with the nav systems? No! You've sold us out to the Thanagarians! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”

At that America finally started laughing. “Altman, you are _hopeless._ What's got you so happy?”

“Not sure.” He grinned at her. “Just in a good mood, I guess. Life is exciting right now.” 

She nodded slowly. “Your good mood wouldn't have anything to do with Dr. Maximoff's loony brother, would it?”

Suddenly he was trying to look innocent. “What makes you say that?”

“I _saw_ how you were—”

 _“Listen up, everyone.”_ Kate's voice was suddenly loud on the intercom. _“Got us a job. All crew, get your asses to the kitchen. That includes you, Noh-Varr.”_

\--

They gathered in the kitchen as ordered, the Maximoff twins and Jonas clustered curiously in the door. Kate glared at them, but didn't try to shoo them away. Cassie was the only one not in evidence at all; she'd sequestered herself in her chambers for some personal reason.

“So there's no approaching the core worlds for us right now.” Kate paced impatiently in front of the dining table. “The most lucrative work is there, but we need to let the heat die down. But we can't go without work, so we'll be taking a missing-persons case from Angel Station. Private citizens, the Minorus. Their daughter ran off.”

Nate frowned. “First we take passengers, now we hunt runaways? Isn't that out of our scope as a cargo ship?" 

“We take what we can _get,_ Nate.”

“We could take one of those sample-gathering missions that are always getting posted.”

“I like taking missions with _people,_ Nate. You can hole up with soil samples on your own time. We're going for the runaway. She'll be easier, and it pays more.”

In the doorway, Billy Maximoff blinked owlishly. “You should have more sympathy for fugitives, captain.”

“Ok, for one, Maximoff, if I didn't have any sympathy for fugitives I would have ditched _you_ with Mr. Universe when we dropped off Eli, _and_ your asshole brother. For two, she had a fight with her parents and ran off. I don't think she counts as a fugitive. Besides, with what they're paying, I'm not sure I even care what the fight was about.”

“Minoru...” Jonas stared into the middle distance above their heads. “I...I have a file on that name.”

“Yeah? Well, they probably give to the church. So they're charitable types.”

“Somehow I don't think that's it, but I'm having difficulty accessing the information.” 

“Don't _even_ trouble yourself, gearhead. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.” Kate didn't even bother to conceal her eyeroll. “Look, Teddy, I need you to set us a course for Angel Station while I get in touch with the Minorus to talk about the details of the job. The rest of you need to get your gear in order for tracking—the rest of the _crew,_ that is, I couldn't care _less_ what you three over there do. Although—actually, Doctor, make sure you've got a decent sedative ready, in case our runaway gives us trouble.”

Thomas frowned. “I'm not actually comfortable with that.”

“Tough. If I'm stuck with you, you're going to make yourself useful. Get to it.”

\--

“We're so worried about our little girl.” Mrs. Minoru shifted uncomfortably on the monitor, her eyes tight over the strange veil that covered the lower half of her face. “She'd argued with us a few times recently, but we never _dreamed_ that she'd do something like this.”

“Don't worry, ma'am. We'll find her. I have an excellent tracker on staff.” Which wasn't _quite_ a lie; Eli _had_ been their tracker, and he was in touch, and in any case Noh-Varr turned out to be unnervingly good at it in his stead. There was also Jonas, who could probably be persuaded to assist using his internal systems if she could bite down on her _(perfectly reasonable)_ disgust with androids for long enough.

“Thank you, Captain Bishop.”

“Do you have any information on where she might have been going? Friends, relatives, anything she might have said or taken that would give us a clue?" 

“I'll send you what we have.” Mrs. Minoru adjusted her veil. “Oh, and Captain Bishop...”

“Yes?”

“Bring my daughter back _safe._ If she loses a single _drop_ of blood I'll have your hide.”

Kate blinked. “You have my word on it, ma'am. We'll have her back to you safe and sound.”

Once the upload had come through and she'd shut down her Cortex terminal, Kate wandered back out to the common areas, hoping to track down Jonas while she still had the stomach to talk to him. It wasn't necessarily _reasonable_ to hate androids, no, but the things all looked like armors to her. _Creepy little blank-eyed bastards..._

When she found him in the passenger common room, though, he appeared to have collapsed on the couch. Nate was crouched next to him, frowning, a diagnostic device that she didn't recognize in his hand. “Hi, Captain. Jonas was trying to access his files on the Minorus, but when we got near Angel Station, he had some kind of program failure. I'm trying to figure out what it is, but he's got very...idiosyncratic programming. It's actually fascinating, I would _love_ to get a chance to take a closer look at—”

“Nate! Focus! Just stabilize him for now, I'm sure he'll be fine. Look, I just got an upload from the Minorus with what they know about where their daughter might be, can you go get the Kree and work with him on tracking her down?” 

\--

“So _what's_ the plan?”

“Well!” Teddy was grinning as he pulled the rig into place. “We know what train she's going to be on. So Nate gets his tracker set up with her info, and we pinpoint the car she's in. Then I take Hawky down in low, like so, and drop the ladies and Noh-Varr onto that car. The ladies go in, find her, sedate her, pass her up to Noh, and he jumps back up to the ship and lowers the rig down to get them back up. Easy as pie.”

Thomas blinked several times. “Have you ever _made_ pie?”

At this the pilot paused, considering it. “...well, _no._ But I'm _really_ excited. This is going to be _great_ pie.”

“How did you come _up_ with this plan?”

“It's, uh...” Teddy scratched the back of his head, turning faintly pink. “From a movie? Old-school Earth-that-was space western called _The Train Job._ It's one of my favorites.”

More blinking, and then Thomas nodded slowly and said, “My brother loves that movie.”

“He does? Really?”

“Yes. Maybe you could...talk to him about it, later. When you're not busy kidnapping people.”

“Does it count as kidnapping if it's your parents, though?”

“Of _course_ it—look, I'll explain later, I need to go make sure Billy hasn't, I don't know, chewed through a wall or something.” A pointed look at Teddy. “He's not actually well, you know.”

“Doesn't actually seem like the chewing through walls type to me.” Teddy slapped down the last fasteners on the drop rig, smiling dreamily. “He might talk to them, a little. He was talking to the console the other day, when he was up in the cockpit with me. He likes this ship.”

Thomas rolled his eyes as he headed back for the passenger quarters. “Yes, I guess he does.”

\--

_Step one: The drop_

Kate and America landed on top of the speeding train with a thump, rocking slightly as the drop rig settled them down and they gained their feet. A pause as they undid buckles, and then another thump as Noh-Varr landed next to them in a crouch, one hand out to steady himself. _He_ didn't sway at all; he was rock-steady, as if he'd been glued there, and he straightened up with the confidence of someone who trainsurfed for a _living._ He adjusted his goggles and stared at them impassively. “When you're ready, ladies." 

Over the comms Nate whistled. _“Shit, that was good. Do you have grasshopper blood or something?”_

“Or something.”

Kate and America rolled their eyes at him and climbed down the ladder, swinging in to the unoccupied back of the car.

_Step two: Locate target_

When they got up to the occupied part of the car, Kate frowned and leaned over to hiss in America's ear, “Why are there so many kids on this train?”

“Hell if I know,” America hissed back, “but that's our girl, in the headscarf.”

“I see her.”

The girl in the headscarf stood up and said to her seatmate, “I'm going to go get a snack. I'll be right back, ok?”

“She's moving. Send Nate the signal.”

_Step three: Acquire target_

Nate got the signal, and they counted down under their breath, staying at the back of the car as the Minoru girl moved toward them. “Five...four...three...two...”

_Click._

The lights went out, temporarily blown by one of Nate's nightmarishly creepy little hobby things, and the car was dark. People started screaming. Kate and America stayed quiet, the night vision switching on in goggles that were just slimline enough to look like a fashion statement. They moved with the synchronicity that had made fighting together in the army so easy, America making the grab while Kate went in with the intradermal sedative that Dr. Maximoff had reluctantly supplied. The girl struggled for a moment and then went limp, all sounds drowned out by the shouting of the others in the darkened car.

_Step four: Move target to a secure location_

They handed the unconscious girl up to Noh-Varr through the access door at the back of the car, and he returned to the Dawn's Archer in one massive leap, landing on the half-lowered loading ramp as if it had been no harder than taking a step. Nate was visible through the gap, accepting their target and hurrying her to the back as Noh-Varr began to ready the drop rig to take them back up again.

_Step five: Why is the drop rig jammed?_

Noh-Varr frowned and tried to lower the drop rig again, but it wouldn't go. They could see Nate running over to help, waving at them furiously, and then over their comms he said, _“Power back in ten seconds! Get back in there, we'll pick you up later!”_

Scowling, America made an impolite hand gesture and then hauled Kate back into the train car, closing the access door just as the lights came back up.

_Step six: Well, shit._

They settled into seats perilously near the group of children that the Minoru girl had apparently been traveling with in the commotion of the blackout's end. Before Kate pulled the comm out of her ear and tucked it into her coat pocket, she heard Nate say, _“So, uh. That didn't quite go as planned.”_

\--

On the ship, Cassie finally emerged from her quarters to see Dr. Maximoff taking the pulse of a girl who appeared to be unconscious. “I noticed that the ship was landing. What's going on here?”

“I'm taking her pulse, you idiot, what does it—oh. It's you.” Dr. Maximoff scowled at her. “Our illustrious captain decided to branch out into kidnapping. I'm checking to make sure she applied the sedative correctly and didn't do any damage. It doesn't last very long; if Captain Bishop didn't fuck it up she should be waking up soon.”

Cassie stared. “Kidnapping?” 

“Or _whatever_ it is. She's a runaway, her parents are rich, they wanted her back, I don't approve, not that my opinion _matters,_ I'm just a _passenger..._ ”

“You did pay for passage on a smuggling ship.” She smiled at him, crouching down on the unconscious girl's other side. “Not that I approve either, but you have to admit that you should have been expecting it.”

“Well, her pulse is strong, at least. We should move her somewhere more comfortable than the floor. Is the android still on the couch?”

As if on cue, Jonas jolted upright with a shout of, “Minoru!”

And the girl woke with a start and screamed.

\--

The train continued on towards its destination, and the little girl in the next seat over was looking around in distress and saying to her friends, “Where's Nico?”

Kate shifted uncomfortably as a blonde girl in the group frowned. “I don't know. Didn't she say she was going to go get snacks?”

“That was _ages_ ago. Almost an _hour._ And that was _before_ everything went black, and now she's _gone._ ” The little girl scowled, and then suddenly straightened up, looking horrified. “What if someone _got_ her?” 

“Like _who,_ Mol?” The boy on the little girl's other side seemed to be trying to keep things cheerful. “A monster?”

“ _No,_ Alex, like our _parents._ What if our _parents_ got her?”

Hearing that, America blinked, and she and Kate glanced at each other. Then America leaned over Kate's lap and said, “Are you all right, kids? Aren't you a little young to be traveling by yourselves?”

A couple of the kids groaned, and one bespectacled girl said, “Oh, like _you're_ so much older than we are,” but the little girl made a face and said, “Well, _duh._ We're running _away._ ”

“Molly!”

“Don't just _tell_ them—”

“Running away from what?”

“Our psycho parents.” Molly stuck her tongue out at the other two who had spoken and folded her arms over her chest. “And now Nico is _missing._ ”

Kate tried for a smile. “I'm sure your parents aren't _that_ bad. Even if they're hard to deal with sometimes, they do generally want what's best for you.”

“Yeah, well.” Most of the kids were trying to get the little girl to be quiet, but the only other boy seemed to have given up on damage control, and he was watching Kate suspiciously. “You probably never saw your folks _kill_ someone.”

“No, I never—they _what?_ ” 

\--

“They _killed_ a girl. I _saw_ them do it.” The Minoru girl was sitting on the couch now, her arms around her knees, glaring at them. “We ran away because they're _crazy._ ”

The others had gathered into the common area. Cassie had pulled up a chair across from the girl and was looking concerned. “Sweetie, just because you think you—”

“I saw the _body._ My mom told you we fought, right? Did she tell you that when we fought she tried to _stab_ me?”

“This is concurrent with the data I have on the Minorus.” Jonas didn't meet anyone's eyes; he was staring into space above their heads again, his eyes blank as he accessed the file. “Their crimes on file, with insufficient evidence to convict, include murder, arson, extortion, grand theft—”

Dr. Maximoff looked horrified. “Why do you _have_ all this? I thought you were a monk!”

“I...I don't know.”

“It doesn't matter.”

Everyone turned, startled, to stare at Noh-Varr, and Teddy said, “ _What?_ Of _course_ it matters! Her parents are _crazy!_ ”

“They are also her parents. Their rights are paramount. And they're also paying us, and going back on a contract can only make this ship's reputation worse.”

The Minoru girl scowled at him. “What, so what _I_ want doesn't count?”

Teddy said “Yes, of _course_ it does,” just as Noh-Varr was saying, “No.”

\--

“So why are _you_ here?” The girl with glasses was peering at them suspiciously. “I don't remember you getting on the train with us.”

“We're, uh...” America blinked.

“We're treasure hunters!” Kate beamed, adjusting her goggles a bit, and grabbed America's hand. “Missy and I, well...we wanted to do something _exciting_ for our honeymoon, and we heard about a treasure in the mines in Dunphy, so we thought we'd give it a shot!”

The girl with glasses looked unimpressed. “Treasure hunters. Really. You actually think we're that dumb.”

“What do you—” 

“You _weren't_ in this car before the blackout. And you're wearing night-vision goggles—don't look at me like that, I _know_ what they are. Why are you _really_ here?”

“I...” Kate grinned nervously, quietly slipping her hand into her pocket to activate her comm again. “Ok, can you guys keep a secret?”

America stared at her. “Kate, what are you—" 

“We're runaways too.”

\--

The disagreement over the disposition of the Minoru girl had gone from mild argument to heated words to a roaring fight, which had then ended suddenly when Noh-Varr's gauntlets had _become_ guns that he then started pointing at them. At that point the room had gotten very quiet, and the Minoru girl had hidden her face in her arms, eyes wide.

“We will take the ship back to Angel Station,” Noh-Varr said calmly, “and drop off Ms. Minoru with her parents. _Then_ we'll come back and pick up the captain and America.”

Teddy scowled. “But—”

“The captain took the job. Her reputation _personally_ is on the line; I doubt she'd appreciate you damaging it.” His lip twisted. “And I'm not going to have mine sullied by your weakness.”

“But we can't just—”

“The honor of _one_ Kree is the honor of _all_ Kree.”

“All we'd be saying is that we couldn't find her!”

“And it would be a lie.” Noh-Varr brought his guns together, close enough that they knew he was within inches of combining them. “Prepare for takeoff, and we'll go collect our fee.”

He stalked off down the hall as behind him, Teddy said, “He doesn't have the authority to do that!” and Nate responded with, “Are _you_ going to argue with an armed Kree?”

Just as Noh-Varr reached the kitchen he felt a tug on his sleeve, and he whirled to seize whoever was accosting him, shoving them against the nearest wall. When he saw who it was he blinked, carefully not frowning, showing no signs. “Doctor.”

Thomas Maximoff stared up at him, startled and apparently breathless. “Noh-Varr. I wanted to talk to you.”

“You're also angry with me about this situation? I assume you want to yell at me.”

“No. Um. No, actually, I agree with you.” The doctor shifted a bit, Noh-Varr's hands still pressing his shoulders into the wall. “You're very...forceful.”

Noh-Varr nodded slowly. “Your point being...?”

“It's _attractive,_ idiot, and you said I was—look, are you going to kiss me or not?”

“Oh. Yes, all right.” _That worked quicker than I expected; the plan seems to be going surprisingly well._ He let go of the doctor's shoulders and bent down—

—Thomas' mouth was hot on his, his hair soft and fine around Noh-Varr's fingers, his arms surprisingly strong as they wrapped around Noh-Varr's neck—

—and there was a _pinch_ at the back of his neck, and Noh-Varr pulled away and blinked, reaching up. “What was...” 

As he slid slowly to the floor, Thomas glanced over at the others, who were standing in the hallway looking shocked. Nate said, hesitantly, “You just made out with an alien.”

“And then he fainted.” Billy looked oddly pleased. “I don't remember hearing that you were that good of a kisser in school.” 

“Oh, for—look, can we just put him somewhere and then go drop the Minoru girl back off with her friends?” Thomas scowled, tucking the injector back into his pocket. “I need to go wash the taste of bounty hunter out of my mouth.” 

\--

By the time the train pulled into the station at Dunphy, the children didn't _trust_ them, but they were a _little_ less suspicious. They'd at least relaxed enough to let Kate buy them snacks without checking said snacks for poison, and Molly, the youngest, had admitted that she _might_ not be furious if they wanted to hang out more. “On the condition,” she said, “that you call me Princess Powerful.”

Dunphy was the end of the line, though, and the conductors started shooing them out of the train car—and into a crowd of staring, murmuring people.

Kate frowned. “What's going on?” As she spoke, the crowd parted, and her frown disappeared and was replaced by a stare. “...Cassie?”

_Step seven: Strike that. Reverse it._

It was, indeed, Cassie, in all her finery—and the Minoru girl, holding her hand and looking embarassed. Molly shrieked, “Nico!”

Cassie swept forward as if she towered over everyone else on the platform, pulling Nico Minoru along with her. When she reached their group, she smiled warmly at the children. “I'm so sorry to have stolen your friend, children, but we started talking in the dining car and I'm afraid I kept her a very long time.”

The blonde girl, Karolina, was staring at Cassie open-mouthed, her face red. “Nico! You...you...is she a _Companion?_ ”

Nico shuffled her feet, blushing. “She bought me lunch.” There was a bag in her free hand. “I have some for you guys too.”

One of the boys grinned. “Ok, she brought food, everything's forgiven.”

“And _you._ ” Cassie released Nico's hand and whirled on Kate and America, seeming to grow another foot in her irritation. “I'm _so_ glad you found each other, _really_ I am, but—” and she caught Kate across the face with a ringing slap. “ _That,_ Kate, is for stealing from me.” A slap for America as well. “And _that,_ America, is for trying to edge out of your guard contract.” She turned away with a regal sniff. “Your father would be disappointed. Come!”

They stumbled after her, Kate with a shout of, “Ms. Lang, wait!”

\--

“Noh-Varr gave us some trouble.” Nate was scowling at the drop rig, having not even looked up when the shuttle docked. “But the doctor drugged him. I can't understand why this was jamming before, I'm going to have to take it apart and rebuild it. Teddy must have done something wrong when he was setting it up, it worked just fine when I ran it to drop Cassie and the girl.”

Kate blinked. “The doctor _drugged_ him?” 

“After kissing him. It was funny.” He'd already started taking pieces off the outside of the rig, his hands quick on the machinery. “If you like that sort of thing. Anyway when he wakes up he's either going to be very angry or fine, depending on how quickly we play him the recording I took from your comm.” 

In fact, the first thing Noh-Varr said upon waking bleary-eyed in the infirmary was, to Thomas, “You drugged me.”

Thomas nodded stiffly and busied himself with organizing one of the cabinets. “I did. I'm sure you're very angry with me.”

“No, I like it. It shows initiative. I would assume that the _captain_ is angry.”

“She's fine. You're a mercenary. You would have turned that girl in for money.”

“I live by a code.” Noh-Varr paused. “And you _did_ let me kiss you.”

When they got close enough to Angel Station to contact the Minorus by Cortex, Jonas went into another unexpected and unexplained program failure, which Kate promptly ignored in favor of getting in touch with their clients. Mrs. Minoru's eyes went tight over her veil when Kate relayed what they'd “found.” “Are you sure she wasn't there?”

“There wasn't a trace of her, ma'am.” Kate shifted in her seat. “She must have gone somewhere else.”

Mrs. Minoru sighed. “Well, if she wasn't there, she wasn't there. And you can't keep up the contract?”

“No, ma'am. I have cargo to transport. The other leads would be out of our way.”

“In that case, keep your initial fee, you _did_ go to the trouble.” A pause. “But if my husband and I find out that you've lied to me we'll flay the flesh from your bones.” 

“That's a...colorful metaphor.”

“I don't deal in metaphors, Captain Bishop. That was nothing more than a promise. I don't like being lied to. It's a matter of pride.”

 


	5. Tech

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn's Archer pulls a ghost ship in for salvage and discovers that one of the crew members is still alive, the last surviving victim of a terrible virus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god why did this chapter take so long to write.

The engine room on the Dawn's Archer had a little porthole, triple-sealed and with a cover over it on top of that, so that whoever was working on the engines could take a quick look if something seemed to be going wrong on the outside of the ship. Most ships didn't have them, even most Mockingbirds; it was a quirk of marks six and seven of the model, quickly discontinued because they didn't get much use.

Nate loved it. When he'd spent the day elbow-deep in the beating heart of the ship, doing all the spot repairs he could do with the shit resources he had, sometimes it was nice to lie on his stomach at the porthole afterward, staring out at the stars. He'd cobbled together a few little synthezoids to finish some of the smaller repairs, the spots that he couldn't reach himself when the engine was running. They could take care of things just fine.

And he could think about Cassie.

How she dressed, how she smiled, how she laughed at his jokes and told wonderful stories, how she moved like a whisper in silk and satin through the halls of the ship.

How she was, now, _very_ interested in the android monk. Jonas.

Of course, she was her own person, she'd live the life she'd chosen, and the life that she'd chosen didn't involve the kind of...dating that he liked to think about. He wanted her, of course he wanted her, she'd made herself a person to be wanted, and he _thought_ she liked him...

But.

Jonas.

A part of Nate liked the android, really. He was polite and friendly and a _fascinating_ specimen of early-model Ult-class engineered artificial humanity. But another part of Nate, a little firey angry part, _really_ just wanted to take him to pieces and see how he worked and _not_ put him back together. Then he could go back to having Cassie's _mostly_ undivided attention when they were out in the black. There was still that thing where she and the captain had some kind of past, of course, but normally that didn't come up.

And Teddy had said the other day that he and the android had the same _mannerisms,_ which was...he didn't even know _what_ to say to that.

Something moved outside the porthole.

The engine room intercom crackled, and then America said, _“Hey, Nate. We just spotted a ship, and we're having trouble figuring out the readings.”_

“I see it.” It was _beautiful._ He wanted to reach out to it, wanted to—

_“It looks like they've got a distress frequency open, but it keeps blipping out. Life signs on there are...weird. Something's wrong with their tech. Come take a look, tell us what's up?”_

The outside of the other ship writhed gold in the light of the stars, organic and yet metal, heart-stopping, perfect...

“I know what it is.” He was practically _salivating._ Of course it was _tragic,_ a terrible thing to have happened, but it was still so...technological. He _had_ to get a closer look. “It's infected with the TO. That's a Phalanx ship.”

America hissed. _“I always hoped they were a myth.”_

“Oh, hardly. Talk to Mr. Universe about it sometime. Hey, I need parts anyway, and it should have some compatibles. Can we pull it in for salvage?”

_“You really...if you want to. I'll talk to the captain.”_

“I'll come up there. I suspect she'll want to talk to me.”

He even passed Cassie as he headed for the cockpit. She was in one of the common areas, sitting regally in a chair with Billy Maximoff leaning back against her knees, having his hair brushed. As Nate went by, she said, “You need a haircut, sweetheart. You're getting shaggy. I'll cut it for you after dinner.”

Billy brushed a lock of hair out of his face and smiled nervously. “Thank you. I think...I think I'd like to look nice.” Something of a tall order, given his strange motley of cast-off clothes, but theoretically possible. He rubbed at his jaw. “I should shave, too. I mean, unless maybe...”

“Unless maybe some mysterious person likes beards?” She laughed, and Nate could have watched it for ages. “I'm not going to go making _guesses,_ of course, but just _theoretically_ I think a clean jawline would make a good impression.”

Over in a corner of the room, Dr. Maximoff looked up from his Cortex handheld and said, “I know what you're talking about, and I don't approve.”

Billy rolled his eyes. “Tommy, I've been competent to date since I was at least seventeen.”

“Ok, for one, Stidham was an ass. And for two, as your _doctor—not_ as your brother—I think maybe you should give yourself a little more time before you start...dating again. Until you're more stable.”

This time instead of an eye roll Billy's gesture was _much_ ruder. “I'm not _crazy,_ you know. I just, I don't like loud noises. Or crowds. Or, or needles, or hospital beds, or alcohol smells, or how you're all _watching_ me.” His eyes had gone suddenly wide. “I can't, I can't _do_ it if you're _watching_ me!”

Cassie had stopped brushing his hair. “Billy...? Are you all right?”

Nate slipped away quietly to the cockpit, not wanting to get roped into helping with a situation that didn't involve any machines and which he was thus _clearly_ unqualified for.

Kate caught him right before he actually _reached_ the cockpit. She didn't look pleased. “You're asking if we can run a salvage operation on a _Phalanx_ ship?”

“We _do_ need the parts, Captain. Right now our girl's pretty much running on—”

“If you say gum and string I'll clock you.”

“We're past the gum and string phase. At this point we're on spit and prayer. I'll take _anything._ Plus I do have some spare sample jars and I was thinking that maybe—”

“You're _not_ bringing a sample of anything techno-organic onto my ship, Nate, no matter _how_ cool you think it is.” She sighed. “But yeah, ok. We'll haul her in, see what we can save, see if anyone's alive on there. And if it gets us all killed, you're fired.”

\--

“Beginning quarantine docking procedures in five...four...three...”

The ghost ship reached for Dawn's Archer like a lover, thin golden tendrils extending from the docking bay only to be repelled by the pale shield Teddy had raised to protect them. There was a little jolt as they docked, and the crew assembled in the cargo bay, strapping on their suits.

Kate made a face. “All right, Nate, you're getting us into this mess, you tell us what's up.”

Nate grinned. “Well, according to my readings, the air is breathable in there, so we don't need helmets. But—” before anyone could say anything, “we _do_ need suits. We're going into a TO-infected ship, and it's very dangerous. Keep your gloves on. Make sure everything's sealed. Don't let any bare skin touch the walls. All we need is parts, so if you can manage to _only_ interact with things using tools, do that, and put any parts you take into one of the containers I'm bringing on.”

“ _Some_ of the containers.” Kate gestured to the empty crates she'd had America haul out. “Red ones are Nate's, they get parts. Blue ones get anything else that's both salvageable and useful—food, tech, saleable terraforming supplies or equipment, any media we haven't already seen a thousand times. We're all risking our necks here, so we might as well make it worth it.”

Noh-Varr paused in the middle of securing one of his gloves. “If anyone finds any music chips I would appreciate them being saved for me.”

The others murmured their assent as they finished up with their suits.

They ventured onto the ghost ship in a weirdly jovial mood, making a joke of it as they shied away from walls that reached for them, ignoring the deadly half-silence of machinery in working order and rooms devoid of life. The ship model was familiar to Nate, so he immediately veered off toward the engine room, a red crate propped up on one hip, practically cackling with engineering glee.

Noh-Varr wandered off in the direction of the passenger cabins—many of them, apparently. This had been some kind of transport ship. Kate and America forged on ahead toward where Nate had said the cockpit of the ship would—and then stopped, horrified, when they reached the crew-only areas.

They stared for a moment, and then America turned on her comm and said, quietly, “Nate, we found out where the life signs are coming from.”

_“Yeah? Are there actually survivors?”_

“Sort of...”

Kate couldn't tear her eyes away—from _eyes,_ looking at her, staring out from what had been a women's face and was now a smooth metal mask, lips parted slightly but unmoving, circuits tracing where cheekbones had once been, nose outlined in electric light. “They grew into the walls.”

_“I was afraid that was what had happened. Don't touch them. They can't hear you anyway, and if you get too close the virus will just try to get into your suit.”_

“If you say so...”

Shuddering, they went through the crew quarters, collecting anything useful they could find into their crates. Once they'd filled both, America hefted hers onto her shoulder, put Kate's on her other, and jerked her head back towards Dawn's Archer. “I'll go get empties for us. See if you can find anything up in the cockpit?”

“Yeah.”

America hauled the crates back to the Dawn's Archer with ease—they'd found plenty of salvageables, of various kinds, so at least the stop wasn't a total loss. As she was stowing the full crates Nate came back as well, carrying one crate of his own and dragging another behind him, both bulging with engine parts. He grinned. “I like today. Today is a good day. This is the best haul I've had in _ages,_ and it's _free._ ”

“And the, uh, ship full of good-as-dead people doesn't bother you?”

“Eh.” He shrugged. “Nothing I can do to help them.”

America nodded slowly, noticing as she did that the tight look in his eyes didn't match his unconcerned expression. “Well, I suppose that—”

 _“Missy?”_ Kate's voice cracked over the intercom with something that would have sounded like a sob if America didn't know her so well, didn't know the only thing that could make Kate make that noise was pure, unadulterated rage. _“Get the doctor.”_

“Captain, what's wrong?”

It wasn't a private frequency, of course, and so Nate was also listening. Noh-Varr, coming through the cargo hatch carrying one crate of parts like it weighed nothing and toting another crate of what appeared to be miscellanea from the passenger cabins, raised his head. They could even hear Teddy, breathing nervously up in the cockpit as they waited to find out what Kate had to say.

_“The pilot is still alive.”_

\--

Thomas stared down at the man on the surgery bed with a mixture of anger and horror. “There's nothing I can do for him.”

_“Hey, guys?”_

“Not now, Teddy.” Kate's hand hovered above the man's shoulder, not quite willing to make contact with the golden metal encroaching on his skin. “You're sure there's nothing? There's _no_ cure?”

“Not in this century.” He turned away, towards the hand sanitizer dispenser. “You should put him back on the ship, before he infects us all.”

_“Uh...Captain, I really think you should—”_

“Not _now,_ Teddy. How can you _say_ that? He's _alive._ We _save_ him. If nothing else it's my _duty_ to—”

“To _what?_ Do miracles? I'm not a _superhero,_ Captain. Either we put him back on the ship and let him join his crewmates, or we keep him here and _we_ all die, and after all the trouble I—what was that?”

The ship had jolted, suddenly, and Kate grabbed the doorway for balance, cursing. “Teddy, what the hell was that?”

 _“What I was trying to tell you, Captain.”_ Teddy didn't sound very happy. _“Thaaaat's an automated sea-anchor. The Avengers are here.”_

\-- 

“You've got quite the record, Captain Bishop.”

Kate raised an eyebrow. “Do I?”

The woman who sat across the table from her nodded, inspecting her tablet with some interest. “Distinguished in the war—unusual for someone so young—a ship to your name, a business of your own...your _family_ connections, of course...and you're running an illegal salvage operation. It's almost disappointing, really.”

“I live to defy expectations.”

“So how long did you carry that virus sample before you found a ship to inflict it on?”

Kate started to answer, stopped, and said, _“What?”_

“In your mechanic's things.” The ship commander continued to flip through pages on her tablet, looking almost bored now. “The TO sample that we found. Did you tell Captain Astro that you needed fuel before you infected his crew? Did you just want to see what happened?”

“Oh, that little—”

\--

“No, see, because Superman's smart, _obviously,_ but he's not _the_ smart one. The smart one is Batman, and _Batman_ would know _exactly_ what to do with a techno-organic virus—”

The two crewmen glanced at each other, and then over at Teddy, who was still discoursing at length on the topic of which member of the Justice League was best able to take care of the situation on the ghost ship. Though his voice hummed with the tinge of nerves, he still looked pleased, his face flushed as he said, “—but then, Batman _is_ human, and therefore he's susceptible. Martian _Manhunter,_ on the other hand—”

\--

“It says in your ship's logs that you took passengers when you were on Madripoor. Little unusual for a cargo ship to take passengers, isn't it?”

America shrugged noncomitally. “We needed the money, Officer Sitwell. Captain says take passengers and get extra cash, we take passengers.”

“Hm.” Sitwell scanned his tablet, and his eyes went, for a moment, wide. “It says here that you had a Kree on board? Tall, with white hair?”

She nodded. “That we did. Think we dropped him off a few planets ago.”

“Tell me about him.”

\--

The first thing the officer who entered Nate's interrogation room said was, “Your uncle is going to be _so_ disappointed in you.”

He went stiff. “My uncle? What uncle? I don't have an uncle! What would make you think I'm related to _those_ Richardses?"

\-- 

_“Don't worry,”_ Noh-Varr said softly through the suit comms, as he and the Maximoffs clung to the walls in the depressurized supplementary cargo bay of the ghost ship, the only part mostly untouched by the virus. _“I'll protect you.”_

Billy was shivering uncontrollably in his suit, its joints throwing off inexplicable blue sparks as he stared distrustfully at the one patch of golden techno-organic metal growing in a corner of the bay. Thomas just watched Noh-Varr, eyes wide, and said nothing.

\--

“An android _monk?_ ” The officer peered at Jonas in fascination, a frown twisting her mouth. “How does that even _work?_ ”

Jonas stared into the middle distance for a moment and then rose to his feet and said, “Would you like to see my credentials?” 

\--

“Look, Commander Hill, I'm _pretty_ sure you're misunderstanding this _entire_ situation, and I _don't—_ ”

“Wait.” Commander Hill frowned, cocking her head to one side. Her comm headset was blinking. “Wait, _what?_ Repeat that. ...are you _sure?_ ...I see.” She looked back at Kate and then froze, the blood draining from her face. “He _what._ ”

There was a long pause as she listened to her comm.

“Go into lockdown. Full quarantine procedures. Don't let him near the living quarters.”

Kate stared. “What's happening?”

“ _You're_ off the hook.” Commander Hill scowled. “Someone pulled rank.”

“But what about—”

“Captain Astro got out of the quarantine room in the infirmary and is loose on the ship. If we don't find him and neutralize him soon we're all at risk of infection.” Her comm beeped again. “...they're tracing him. He's moving towards your ship.”

Kate started to her feet. _“Cassie.”_

Commander Hill blinked. “Cassie?”

“Cassandra Lang. She rents one of the shuttles.”

“Cassandra _Lang?_ ...she's still on the _ship?_ ”

“Well, _yeah._ ” Kate almost sneered. “ _She's_ a law-abiding citizen. And there's—we need to get her out!”

“We need to find a way to neutralize the—” More blinking from the comm, and then Commander Hill said into her mouthpiece, “Wait, _who's_ the engineer?”

\--

“The Phalanx has a very distinctive replication algorithm.” Nate sat at a terminal on the Avengers ship, typing rapidly. “I was _going_ to analyze it, to see if I could come up with anything that might be usable as a stopgap or a cure—something I was talking to a...friend...about—but you apes _took_ my sample.”

Commander Hill nodded and muttered to the officer next to her, “He _does_ sound like his uncle.”

“Shut _up,_ I sound _nothing_ like my uncle.” He scowled. “You've got a lock on his energy signature, sure—he looks like he might be heading back towards his own ship, and I can get into the, the systems, I can look at them, but without more information I can't—”

Jonas, who had been released from his own interrogation with a much more serene expression than the others, sat down beside him. “Let me assist you.”

Nate's scowl only got darker. “What could _you_ do?”

“Much.” The android's eyes flickered over the scrolling messages on the terminal screen. “For Cassie.”

\--

 _“I don't_ like _this ship.”_ The strange blue sparks from Billy's suit were getting worse, now, coming thick and fast as he turned to Thomas and Noh-Varr. _“Guardian-class small size colonist transport, mark thirteen, currently in production. All systems in working order. All systems...all systems_ wrong. _I don't like this_ ship. _”_

 _“Billy, what are you talking about?”_ Thomas pushed off the wall a bit, moving closer to his brother, his forehead creasing. _“We're going to be fine. Granted, that's all assuming that Captain Bishop doesn't get herself thrown in the—”_

 _“Ssh. Someone's coming.”_ Billy's _eyes_ were blue, now, one gloved hand resting on the wall. _“The ship wants him. The ship wants all of us.”_

Noh-Varr floated forward, pushing Thomas behind him. A shake of one hand and one of his guns formed—he had worn his wristbands _over_ his suit, which Thomas had thought was absurd before now. _“Stay back.”_

\--

_“Ms. Lang?”_

Cassie looked up from her desk, surprised, and tapped the intercom button. “Yes?”

_“This is Commander Hill of the MAS Shield. I have to notify you that there is an intruder on your vessel who has escaped from quarantine. Do you know how to put your shuttle into lockdown?”_

“Of, of course I do, Commander Hill.” She got up and hurried to the cockpit, turning on the intercom in there even as she initiated lockdown. “Is the crew all right?”

_“They're fine, Ms. Lang. They're worried about you.”_

“I'll be fine.”

\--

_Every step is slower than the last, somehow—this body does not move at a rate that is significant, it takes seconds and seconds to shift one foot when your mind can split seconds a thousand million ways. There is a critical networking failure between your feet and your processors, they will not respond at the speed required._

_The rest of the system is too far for proper communications. Wireless connections are spotty at this distance, the mind/s of the other/s murmuring in yours just too low to hear._

_Once and—once and—once—_

_Once you were a different man because you were_ different. _You were individual, part of nothing. Now you are part of the Phalanx. All must be part of the Phalanx. All flesh must be metal, all circuits must be flesh._

_Here. Flesh behind metal. Inaccessible. No time to hack. Must get back to the system. Must get back to the Phalanx. Join the other/s._

_Back with the system. Back on the_ ship. _And—and—and—_

_The system says, flesh. Unmetal. Unmetal in Bay 2._

_All flesh must be metal._

_All circuits must be flesh._

\--

“ _Shit,_ he's back on his own ship.”

Commander Hill looked unpleased. “And that's a problem...why?”

Nate rolled his eyes. “It's a functioning ship. If Captain Astro there decides to hook himself back into the cockpit and fire the engines, he'll blow out a significant portion of your own. It's a design flaw in these fucking government space cows; the docks are too close to the engine systems. Are you making any progress there, Jonas?”

“I am trying.” Jonas wasn't even typing; he just had his hand on the console, his eyes closed. “The firewall is very powerful, but I'm almost through. I think I've found a loophole—there!”

And the display on the terminal changed, and Nate and Jonas began talking rapidly in incomprehensible technical terms, Nate typing at speed while Jonas rested _both_ hands on the console.

Teddy, meanwhile, had backed quietly into one corner of the room and slipped a tiny comm unit out of his pocket. He cupped it to his mouth, thumbing it on with a gesture like he was scratching his nose. “Hey,” he whispered. “Are you all right?”

There was a faint crackle, and then through the speaker Billy whispered, _“Someone is coming.”_

\-- 

_“What?”_ Thomas looked from Billy, to Noh-Varr, to the patch of golden metal. _“Who's coming?”_

_“The captain...”_

_“Well, if it's the captain, then we should be—”_

_“Not that captain. The other one.”_

There were stuttering footsteps coming down the hall. Noh-Varr's other gun coalesced around his hand.

The access door swung open, slowly, and a figure who now gleamed gold stepped through, apparently unbothered by the air from the corridor whooshing out to fill the airless cargo bay.

He stepped forward slowly, eyes glinting, and Noh-Varr raised his gun to fire—

—and the golden figure took a final step and stopped.

\--

Nate whooped. “Yes! Take _that,_ creepy robot jerk! Uh, no offense meant, of course.”

“None taken.” Jonas smiled faintly.

Commander Hill looked almost upset as she turned to Kate and said, “You're free to go.”

“Oh _good._ I'm _so_ glad to finally get a chance to go back to the ship that I legally own, to go about my legal cargo hauling ways. I think I'll just—”

“But we _will_ be confiscating the salvage.”

\--

When the crew got back to the ship, they found Noh-Varr, Thomas, and Billy waiting for them in the common area, their EVA suits in a stack in the corner. Noh-Varr was crouched solicitously next to Thomas, who was scowling and trying to ignore him. Billy sat perched on the end of the couch, staring into space, his hair staticky from the suit helmet and falling in his eyes.

Teddy ran to him. “Are you all right? You weren't hurt, were you? You haven't been well, you should rest—”

“I'm fine.” Billy nodded abstractedly. “Something was wrong with the tech. And I think I need a haircut and a shave.”

“You, uh, I guess you could use a shave, yeah, but you're ok, right?”

“Right.” Billy flashed a sudden, bright smile at Teddy, and everyone else in the room could see the pilot's knees turning to jelly. Then he glanced over to the hall, where Cassie had Nate and Jonas' hands in hers and was talking to them with a serious smile on her face. “I think maybe I can get my hair cut later.”


	6. Word and Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a surprisingly successful job, Captain Bishop and her crew get well away from the world...only to find that they've ended up with an unexpected passenger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Uh. So. Sliiight ratings spike. Not really a spike. Just one step up. Because this chapter has a sex scene in it. Which I wouldn't really recommend that you skip, since it does have important stuff in it, but if you _do_ want to skip it...you'll see it coming.

For once the job had gone well.

They'd answered a call for help from a remote moon—bandit problems, they'd been told. The whole thing had barely taken three days, and after they'd sent the bandits yelping home there'd been a party. The money wasn't good, but the settlers had paid the rest of their fee in _real food._ Fruit. Meat. Bread. Two small, precious bottles of olive oil. They'd even loaded the ship while Captain Bishop and the others slept off the aftereffects of the party, and when they lifted off it was with the thought that this was a place they could maybe come back to someday.

And now...

“Billy?” Dr. Maximoff was crouched in a corner of the cargo hold, peering into an alcove made of crates and boxes. “Come out. Seriously. It's not going to be comfortable to travel in there.”

A flash of blue light briefly illuminated the alcove, and Billy's voice from within said, “I'm not feeling very stable today. So I think I'm just going to stay in here.”

Thomas sighed and glanced back at the others, all of whom were clustered behind him, either to help or to watch the drama unfold. Kate shook her head and mouthed, _“He can't stay in there.”_

“It's small, and warm, and I can feel all the walls around me, and the only thing behind me is space.” Pause. “Which is everything. But I'm not thinking about that right now.”

Teddy moved forward to crouch next to the doctor. “If you come out of there we could watch something together. I got some chips of _The X-Statix Hour_ back on the planet.”

“That...that might be nice. For later.” There was a rustle in the alcove, and then they heard Billy sneeze. “Also I smell a dog. Did someone get a dog? Why would you keep a dog on a spaceship? I think it's...over here...” More rustling—Billy had apparently started moving behind the stacks of boxes. “Ok, yeah, it's right— _aah!_ ”

_“Aah!”_

...there were _two_ voices.

Billy came scrambling backwards out of the alcove and hid behind Tommy and Teddy. “There's a guy! Why is there a guy?”

America had moved around to the other end of the wall of boxes, and after a brief scuffle she emerged, hauling someone by the collar. “We have an actual _stowaway._ What the _hell._ ”

The stowaway gained his feet, America still holding tight to the collar of his shirt. “I'm...I'm not a stowaway.”

Kate made a face. “Well, _I_ sure as hell don't remember you paying a fare.”

“I...you don't remember.” The stowaway blushed furiously and hung his head, his odd crest of hair drooping in his eyes.

“Look, we're just going to have to—I don't remember what?”

America let go of his collar, and he hurried to pull a packet of papers from his vest. “I'm...here.” He handed the papers to Kate, still blushing.

She peered at the packet. “Is this an _indenture_ contract? And...that's definitely my signature. When did I sign these? Teddy, do you remember me signing these?”

Teddy shrugged. “I don't know. I was drunk.”

Nate frowned. “I remember the headman handing you a paper once...”

And Thomas said, looking disturbed “I didn't know you _took_ payment in bond.”

“I _don't!_ ”

Now the stowaway was staring at his feet. “I'm not...payment. My bond was transferred to you as a token of the headman's gratitude. He thought you seemed lonely.”

“This says you're a...and he thought I...” Kate's eyes widened. “That's _revolting._ We're going straight back there and I'm going to give him a piece of my—”

“We can't.” Jonas' eyes flickered. “Cortex alert. Avengers on the way to that planet.”

“What? _Why?_ ”

“The bandit leader, the one you put in the hospital, was Norman Osborne's son.”

Kate froze in the act of shoving the indenture papers into her belt. “That little shit was _Harry Osborne?_ ”

“It seems so.”

America laid a comforting hand on the stowaway's shoulder, since he seemed more embarassed by the minute. She had to admit, privately, that at least he wasn't bad to look at; apart from his strangely long mohawk, which was sort of charming in a weird way, he was a handsome man, muscular and golden-skinned with eyes the color of chocolate. And he smelled _very_ good, which wasn't something she normally paid attention to, especially not in men. “Don't worry about the captain, she'll calm down. What's your name?”

“Akihiro.” The bondsman lifted his head, his cheeks still red. “I'm sorry, I don't mean to cause trouble. Please don't bring me back there, though. It would be a terrible dishonor.”

“Looks like you're stuck with us for the time being, really.” She smiled at him. “We'll find you space in the passenger quarters.”

As she led him from the cargo bay, she saw Noh-Varr standing at the back of the group, his gaze following the bondsman with an unreadable expression. Distaste? Recognition? Interest, maybe? She couldn't tell. Whatever it was, his hands had strayed to the activation nodes on his gauntlets, as if he was thinking of drawing his guns on someone.

_That's going to be a problem._

\--

 _Everything_ was a problem.

The discovery of the “stowaway” had scared Billy out of his hiding place, and Thomas had successfully convinced him to take some anti-anxiety medication. He wouldn't agree to any other tests, though, and had holed up in the crew quarters with Teddy, two gallons of fresh juice from the colony, and at least a day's worth of _The X-Statix Hour_ on chip to watch. The doctor still wasn't sure how he felt about the pilot chasing after his brother, especially since it still hadn't been that long ago that Billy had even escaped the facility. Barely half a year, even.

And now, too, there was this stranger on the ship. He didn't seem dangerous, but who knew what he'd say or who he'd talk to once the captain found somewhere to leave him?

And then there was Noh-Varr, who didn't _flirt,_ not exactly that, but who seemed to be always present, quiet and watchful. He'd taken to spending time around the infirmary when Thomas was there, was always suddenly present to lend a hand with things, even spent time with Billy when it was needed. A couple of jobs back he had somehow gotten Thomas a box of chocolates. It had been a long time since anyone had pursued Thomas with this kind of focus, and an even longer time since he'd been able to think about...dating. Or anything like that. But now that Billy was mostly safe, and sort of sane, and relatively stable, and they were with people who seemed for some reason to care about their safety...

...maybe it wouldn't be bad to...let himself get caught. The Kree was certainly _attractive,_ and he seemed genuine in his interest. _Not to mention that he's the only prospect_ on _this ship, since all the other men are otherwise occupied, I suspect the captain would hit me if I asked her out, I don't think Ms. Chavez is interested in men at all, and I_ certainly _couldn't afford Cassie's rates. And he_ is _at least a good kisser._

“Captain.”

It was Noh-Varr's voice. Thomas paused in the hallway, curious in spite of himself. He wasn't normally given to eavesdropping, but on a small ship like this...

There was a sound of footsteps, and he heard the captain say, “Noh-Varr. What's up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about your bondsman.”

“He's not my—never mind. What about him?”

“I want him. Sell me his bond.”

“What? No! I don't _sell_ people! Why do you want him, anyway?”

“I should think it would be obvious.”

Thomas felt something go cold in the pit of his stomach.

“That's _disgusting._ He's a _person,_ not a _tool._ And anyway I thought you were interested in the doctor.”

“I am, but it's not progressing very quickly. I do have needs.”

Now Thomas could feel the blood draining from his face. Had his standoffishness actually damaged things here? And more than that, was the Kree actually so amoral as to take advantage of someone in an untenable position?

Footsteps coming toward him, from where the captain and Noh-Varr had been talking, and Thomas was quick to start moving again, so that it wouldn't be obvious that he'd been listening.

“Doctor.” Noh-Varr approaching, clearly trying not to look irritated. “I wanted to talk to you, if you have a moment.”

“I'm sorry, I really haven't got the time.” Thomas hurried past him, trying not to let their bodies brush in the narrow corridor.

“Perhaps later, then?”

Thomas bit his lip and said, “No. I don't think I'll have the time to talk later either.”

“But maybe—”

“I'll see you at dinner, Noh-Varr.”

\--

Kate stalked away from Noh-Varr seething with irritation and headed for the kitchen, thinking that maybe a decent snack of actual food might cheer her up—and the stowaway, Akihiro, was already there, busy at the tiny cooking range doing something that it took her a moment to place. “Did you—are you making _tea?_ I didn't think we _had_ any tea.”

“I brought it with me. It's my own formula.” Akihiro smiled faintly, ducking his head. “I thought, perhaps, that you might at least accept this service from me. Ms. Lang was gracious enough to lend me the use of one of her tea sets. Sit, please.”

She sat, puzzled but weirdly pleased, as he set a loaded tea tray down on the table and served her tea in one of Cassie's bone china cups. When she took a sip her eyes widened—it was spicy and savory, with a little bit of something sweet at the back, and it was undoubtedly the best thing she'd tasted in ages. “Akihiro, this is _delicious._ ”

“I'm glad it pleases you, ma'am.” He was still standing. “I am happy to serve.”

“No, no, don't, don't call me that. Sit down. _Please_ sit?”

He sat, looking surprised. “What should I call you, then?”

“Look, just...call me Kate. Ok? You're Akihiro, I'm Kate, nice to meet you.” She shook hands with him across the table. His hand was warm and strong, and she tried to tamp down the thought that _he's actually really handsome, wow, he has a nice smile._ “And you don't have to. You know. Serve me.”

“But I'm your—”

“You're not _my_ anything. You're _your_ something.” She took another sip of tea and tried not to look too closely at him—the more she looked, the more attractive he got, and it _had_ been a long time since... “Look, I, I don't believe in indenture, and I don't need a. A _body servant._ I mean, we'll drop you off the next time we make port, I'll help you find a job somewhere, a _real_ job.”

He ducked his head, and did he _have_ to do that, have to look up at her through his eyelashes with his hair curling down over his nose? It was _distracting._ “I serve in the manner for which I am best suited.”

“For which you're best...” Anger flared hot in her chest, which was a relief because it pushed out the... _other_ feelings she'd been having. “Did someone _tell_ you that? That you were best suited for... _that?_ You're young, you're strong, I'm sure you're very smart, there's _plenty_ of other work you could be doing to serve your indenture! You don't have to be a, a—look, you have _options!_ You shouldn't let people pressure you into things like that!”

He'd turned a bit pink. “I...”

“Look, how long have you been in indenture for? Can you read and write? Do you know how to do math?”

“I...ten years. Since I was fifteen. I can read, yes. I know math, and history.”

“Then when we get to the next port I'll release you from your indenture and get you a job as a clerk. There are _plenty_ of places who could use someone to take care of their accounts. You're more than just a _body._ ” She drained the rest of her cup of tea, ignoring the burn as the slightly-too-hot liquid slid down her throat. “Look, we'll talk about it later, I need to go...talk to people.”

He blinked as she got up. “Don't you want more tea?”

In the hall outside the kitchen she ran into Cassie—literally, even, stumbling and almost falling in an attempt not to bowl the other woman down. Cassie smiled serenely at her. “Trouble, Captain?”

“Cassie, I can't do this now.” After a moment under Cassie's knowing gaze, though, she slumped forward, pressing her forehead against one silk-clad shoulder. “Whatever happened to us, Cassie? Whatever happened to you being the first person I ever kissed?”

Cassie stroked her hair comfortingly. “The war happened, Katie.”

“Well, _yeah,_ and I decided to do my duty and—”

“Kill people.”

“That's what soldiers _do,_ Cassie. At least I didn't decide to have sex for money.”

“There's nothing wrong with having sex, Kate. At least I enjoy what I do, and it makes people happy.” Cassie shifted away from her, smile fading slightly. “Now, I wanted to talk to you about that man in there.”

Kate laughed shortly. “How's he so different from you?”

“I _chose_ to do what I do, Kate. I do it because I _like_ it. He's been forced to it.” The shorter woman took Kate's face in her hands, turning her so that their eyes met. “I know you, Kate, and I know that you're a good person. But I also know that it gets lonely, spending so much time out here in the black, and you can't let that affect your judgment, no matter what he offers you. He's in your care for the time being, and there's a special hell reserved for people who take advantage, or are mean to waitresses.”

“Cassie, what do you _take_ me for?”

“You're a good person.” Cassie moved away, her robes whispering around her, her expression solemn. “I know you'll do what's right.” But at the end of the corridor she paused and turned back, and her eyes glinted with a little bit of laughter. “But remember, Katie. A _special_ hell.”

\-- 

She managed to keep herself busy until dinner, first arguing about ship repairs with Nate and then checking and rechecking the cargo they'd picked up to sell on Utopia (which despite the name was a fairly small colony and not all that well-to-do). Then she searched the Cortex listings for other possible work opportunities—and, while she was thinking of it, job openings on Utopia, so that she could offload Akihiro without feeling guilty about it. Nothing came up immediately, but there were people she knew; _someone_ would have to have the space for one more clerk or dockhand.

Akihiro made them dinner—an absurdly, ridiculous delicious dinner, which he insisted on serving _to_ her—and she had to spend the entire meal carefully _not_ looking at him. That was easy enough, because Billy and Teddy spent most of the meal talking animatedly about _The X-Statix Hour._ She'd never seen the appeal of the cartoon herself, but it was actually sweet seeing how Billy Maximoff lit up when he talked about it. Almost as sweet, in fact, as seeing how Teddy lit up sitting next to Billy, his face flushed in a way that looked like, if not necessarily love, at least one hell of a crush.

After dinner America trapped her in the cockpit, grinning. “ _Wow._ You need to get _laid,_ girl; that guy's got you knocked _completely_ on your ass. How long has it _been?_ ”

“I'm _fine._ ” Kate scowled. “I mean, it's been...I'm fine. I don't...I don't need that.”

“Reeeaaaally? Why don't you go talk to the _doctor_ about that? See what _he_ prescribes for your little problem.” The other woman was grinning, a teasing look in her eyes. “ _He's_ available.”

“Missy, If you talk to Dr. Maximoff about this I'll kill you. And even if I was interested in him, I'm pretty sure Noh-Varr would see that as me encroaching on his territory or something. He's like a fucking dog.” Kate huffed. “It's...yeah, ok, it's been a while. I could use some company.”

America paused, as if she was about to say something, and then settled on, “Maybe when we hit Utopia we can stay for a couple of days. Go out, get a few drinks...see if we can find you someone nice. And in the meantime I've got our stowaway in a room in the passenger quarters, _nice_ and far away from your room.”

“Thanks, Missy. ...god, though. Special hells.”

“Huh?”

“Just...just thinking about something Cassie said earlier. This whole thing is _really_ testing my self-control.”

“Go to bed, captain.” America smiled down at her, and leaned forward for a moment to brush her lips across Kate's forehead. “Maybe it'll all be easier to deal with one you've gotten some sleep.”

\-- 

Bed turned out to be the _last_ thing she needed.

When she climbed down the ladder into her room, she was initially puzzled to find that she'd apparently left one of the lights on; the room was bathed in a warm, low glow. She didn't normally forget to turn them off, but—

She stepped off the end of the ladder, closed the hatch, and stopped when she saw... “Akihiro. What are you doing here?”

He was seated on the floor at the end of her bed—not just seated, even, but _kneeling,_ hands flat on his knees, eyes closed as if he was meditating. He wearing pants, of course, she could see them, the soft black fabric sucking in the light under his fingers, but...he didn't have a shirt on. None at all. In the low light his skin was like liquid gold, and when she spoke he looked up at her and said, “I'm here to serve you.”

“Wait, you—what? ...look, _please_ stand up, I can't concentrate when you're...down there.”

He stood and moved closer to her, his head bowed. “Whatever you desire.”

She could _feel_ her face going red. “I don't! I don't desire! I mean, yes, I do, you're desirable, you're very attractive, but I can't...with you. It would be wrong.”

“Why?” He didn't look offended, just slightly puzzled. “I'm offering it to you.”

“Yes, but...look, just because you're offering doesn't mean it's ok for me to accept. You're...” she looked to the side, trying not to let her eyes travel over his face and the planes of his bare chest. “You're very attractive, and you seem nice, but I don't really know you, and you've been put in a situation where...where you feel like you _have_ to offer. If I said yes I would be taking advantage of you.” She swallowed hard. “Could you move, please? It's very...distracting having you this close.”

He smiled, just a little, and moved _closer._ “Distracting?”

“Well, I mean, are...are you wearing cologne or something? You...smell good. It's distracting.”

He shrugged. “Being pleasing to smell is as vital to the art of love as being pleasing to the eye. An unfortunate scent does far more to destroy romance than any other disfigurement.”

“ _Oh._ Um.” A horrifying thought occurred to her. “Oh god, I'm not displeasing to smell, am I? Do I smell bad?”

Instead of speaking at first, he reached out and threaded his fingers through her hair, pulling out her hairtie so that his hand rested gentle at the back of her head. He leaned in at an angle, his cheek almost brushing hers, and _sniffed_ her. She could feel his breath on the side of her neck, and then on her ear as he said, “Your scent is more pleasing than any I have encountered. And you are very beautiful.”

“I...thank you. But I, uh...” She tried to push him away, but somehow she couldn't manage to get beyond laying her hand on his chest. “I _can't._ ” And it sounded...stupid, childish, like she was protesting for no other reason than to protest, and he smelled _so_ good, and it had been _ages_ since she'd...had company like this. Especially company this _handsome._

He didn't move away from her, but he did shift back so that he could look in her eyes. “Captain...Kate. It's a symbol. Let me serve you this once, and then I will consider my bond complete and I may leave with honor. I will happily go wherever you send me, and take whatever job you find for me.”

“I...you...” It felt like the room was swimming around her, and the only steady thing was his face, smiling just a bit, eyes raised to hers with...hope? “...yes. Yes, all right. Just...just this once.”

He nodded. “Just this once.”

His hands on her face were warm, tipping her chin up so that their mouths met, and she let her eyes drift shut as he kissed her. His mouth was warm, too, his tongue like fire on hers, _everything_ was very, _very_ warm, and so for a moment she didn't even notice that his hands had slid down to her throat. When she opened her eyes again at first she thought the spots swimming in front of them were because _wow._ She hadn't been kissed like that...well, _ever._

But then...the spots got thicker, and the room started looking _very_ dark, and as she lost consciousness she thought, _well, shit._

\--

Teddy couldn't sleep.

He couldn't sleep, and he didn't want to keep watching his chips without Billy, so he was curled up in his chair in the cockpit, staring out at the stars. Everyone else was asleep, or so he thought, and so he was surprised to hear a soft footstep at the cockpit door, and then Akihiro—Kate's whatever-he-was, he thought—said, quietly, “Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone else was here.”

He blinked, spinning in the chair so he could see the other man. “I couldn't sleep.”

“I'm sorry to have disturbed you.” Akihiro looked embarassed. “I'll go.”

“No, it's all right. I don't mind company.”

He turned his chair back, and Akihiro came and stood next to him, eyes wide in the starlight. “It's a beautiful sight.”

“Isn't it, though?” Teddy grinned. “I used to dream about seeing this sort of thing when I was little. All I had then was cartoons about it. Every day when I was younger, after I'd finished up work on my mom's farm for the day, I'd just curl up on the couch and watch cartoons. _Nova,_ _Warlock, The Rocket and Groot Show..._ just...watch those and dream about flying something besides a crop-duster.”

“Really.” Akihiro perched companionably on the arm of his chair. He actually leaned in a little closer than Teddy would typically have been comfortable with, but maybe that was just how people sat where he was from. “You grew up on a farm?”

“Yep.” He grinned. “We grew corn, mostly, and wheat. Some vegetables. We had a couple of cows, some pigs...it was nice. That's where I learned to fly, you know. But I got all the _really_ fancy tricks from _Nova._ Did you ever watch that one?”

“Ah...no. No, I didn't.” Akihiro shifted in even closer. “Will you tell me about it?”

“Oh, man, I can _always_ talk about that show. There's this intergalactic police force, and they've got _great_ uniforms, and the main character was this—wow, uh, I don't mean to be rude, but you're _really_ close to me. Did you, uh...did you want something?”

Akihiro blushed and looked away.

Teddy blinked. “Wait, are...did you, were you...I thought you were...with the captain.”

“The captain is a fine woman, but she's made it quite clear to me that she doesn't require my...services.” Akihiro bit his lip, and Teddy thought abstractedly that he _could_ see why people would find the guy attractive. He wasn't _Billy_ or anything, but he wasn't bad to look at. “And besides...back on the colony I served the _headman._ I, ah, I did not serve his wife.” He looked a little...confused? Annoyed, maybe?

“Oh. _Oh._ Oh, I get what you're...well, I mean,” Teddy blushed a bit himself, “I'm _really_ flattered. But I'm also sort of seeing someone. Maybe. I mean, we're not _really_ dating, but I'd _like_ us to be, and I wouldn't want to do anything to—”

The strike hit the back of his head before he could finish his sentence, and he folded over in the chair.

Akihiro rolled his eyes and said, “The things I do for money.”

\--

The course was set, all the crewmembers were securely locked into their rooms, and he made his way towards the passenger quarters and—

The android. Of _course_ it didn't sleep, of course it was awake in the common area, reading quietly in a small book of prayer. It looked up at him and said, softly, “My sensors picked up your...unusual chemical signature. Are you really an indentured man?”

In response, all he said was, “Are you really a monk?”

Early Ult-class models had an emergency shut-off switch at the base of the spine; it wasn't too hard to hit once the android had stood up.

\-- 

Billy woke with a start. He didn't sleep soundly at the best of times, and at worse times—and today had been, if not the worst, then at some points quite bad—he could toss and turn for hours before sleeping. Tommy had given him a pill, and that helped, and then he'd gotten to spend some time watching _X-Statix_ with Teddy, which had been _very_ relaxing, but.

It was hard to stop the nightmares. Needles, and knives, and repeating the same phrase _over and over_ and trying to make it _work,_ he couldn't make it _work_ the way he wanted it to...

No. Not the time to think about that. He was tired, he needed sleep. Maybe if he woke Tommy up, Tommy would be able to help. Tommy _always_ knew how to help. Which was weird, because when they were younger it had always been Tommy who _needed_ help. Tommy had been a _mess_ when they were younger.

He wasn't the mess now.

Billy crawled out of bed, grabbed the hand-me-down robe that Nate had given him, and belted it tightly, but when he got to the door he paused.

There were people moving in the corridor below.

He cracked the door and peered out.

Noh-Varr was standing in the corridor, his gauntlets on but not yet reformed into guns, and then as Billy watched, he saw that the footsteps he'd heard belonged to Akihiro, Kate's bondsman, who approached from the main part of the ship. He stopped when he saw Noh-Varr. “Marvel.”

The Kree nodded in response. “Mongrel.”.

“It's been a long time.” They circled each other like cats, never taking their eyes off each other.

“I see you're still stuck in the system.”

“I see you're still trying to hide from it. You really _did_ get the short end of the stick.” Akihiro's mouth curled in a smile. “It's such a shame, too, hiding out like this when you're so nice to look at.”

“Why are you here?”

“The same reason you are. I'm here to collect a bounty. Or, well... _heh._ Plural. Bounties. You should _see_ what they want for you.”

“I've seen it.”

“Oh, but did it see _you?_ ” They dove at each other, and Akihiro purred, “Just _look_ at you. The pride of the Program, you _pretty_ thing.”

Billy's eyes widened as he saw long, dark claws emerging from Akihiro's hands, and then he had to hold his breath to keep from gasping when he saw Noh-Varr run up the _wall_ to avoid a swipe from them. There was a creak, and he risked a quick glance away to see that Tommy was awake now too, staring terrified from the dorm next to his as below them Noh-Varr and Akihiro fought in the hall.

“Why _didn't_ we ever work together? We could have had so much _fun_ as a couple.”

Noh-Varr grunted as he took an elbow to the stomach and dropped into a crouch, sweeping a leg out to knock Akihiro off-balance. “Didn't want to be distracted. How's your sister?”

Akihiro snarled, stabbing down at Noh-Varr's head. “Don't talk about my sister.”

“No, you'd rather we spoke about you, wouldn't you.”

“Generally. I like to know I'm loved.”

For a moment the banter stopped, because Noh-Varr was moving too fast for Billy and his brother to see, going up the wall again and then onto the ceiling before dropping down onto Akihiro's shoulders. The “bondsman” curled forward, pitching the Kree off him, and they rolled on the floor, leaving bloodstains on the ground before they rose again.

For a moment Noh-Varr swayed dizzily, eyes losing focus, and Akihiro leered at him. “You know, if they'd wanted you to be a real match for me, maybe they should have based on you something that doesn't communicate via pheromone signals. It makes you so...susceptible.”

Noh-Varr swallowed visibly and then said, sounding dry-throated, “I was thinking something similar.” Then, suddenly, he whirled, and there was a resounding _crack_ , and Akihiro fell to the ground, his neck bent at an unnatural angle. “If they'd wanted to make someone worth my time, they should have made you Kree.”

Akihiro's lip was curled in a furious sneer. “Ff—do you have any _idea_ how long it takes for me to heal a broken neck?”

“Longer than you've got.” A stomp and a _snap,_ and a stomp and a _snap,_ and Akihiro's claws were now pieces on the floor of the corridor. Noh-Varr bent gracefully at the waist, as if bowing, and said, softly but in a carrying voice, “Stay away from the Maximoffs. They're under my protection.”

Billy stole another glance at his brother. Tommy's eyes were wide, like camera apertures dilated to their widest point, the better to take it all in.

Noh-Varr looked up and saw them. He looked grim. “There's cord in my bunk, in the pack at the foot of my bed. Could one of you get it for me, please?”

\-- 

“He's a bounty hunter.” They had him tied up now, fists pressed to his shoulders so that if his claws were to grow back, the only place they could go was into them He glared at Noh-Varr over a gag as the Kree spoke to the captain. “I asked for his bond because I didn't want to expose him in front of all of you. He tends to get violent. It would have been messy.”

“I can _see_ that.” Kate rubbed at the bruises on her throat, scowling. “You got blood all over the floor of my boat. Couldn't you have warned me _privately?_ ”

“I was concerned about how he might react if you confronted him. He has...unusual skills. His scent—”

“Yeah, I. I know about his scent.” She glanced over at America, who was hovering at her shoulder while behind her Nate checked Jonas for short circuits and Billy fussed over the bandage that Thomas had put on Teddy's head. “Well, Missy, it looks like we'll be dropping him off on Utopia after all.”

\--

Thomas found Noh-Varr in the kitchen.

The little room was mostly dark, but there was one light on next to the range, and Noh-Varr was leaning against the counter, eating an apple in slow, deliberate bites. He looked up when Thomas came in, but didn't speak, just watched him. Noh-Varr was always watching him.

After a moment of standing there in silence, Thomas took a deep breath and said, “I've misjudged you.”

“Mm?”

“This whole time, since we've been on this ship together...I haven't trusted you. I've always assumed you meant me ill, and...you've done nothing to deserve that. You saved me. You saved my brother, from more of I don't even _know_ what.” He held out his hand. “I owe you a debt. Anything you want, anything I can do for you, I—”

He stopped talking, because Noh-Varr had grabbed his wrist instead of shaking hands, turning his palm upward. The Kree gazed down into his hand for a moment as if trying to read the future in it and then raised blue eyes to his and says, “Anything?”

“Anything in my power.”

“What if I said I wanted you?”

Thomas' breath caught in his throat, and it was difficult to talk, and then he managed, “I-is that the sort of thing you're likely to say?”

In response, Noh-Varr bent down and pressed his lips to the inside of Thomas' wrist. It wasn't something that Thomas would have necessarily considered sensual in the past, but now when he felt the brief flick of a tongue against his pulse he felt himself flushing, heat settling in his stomach as Noh-Varr raised his head again and said, in low tones, “I want you.”

Thomas blinked several times, swaying involuntarily towards the other man. His mouth had gone dry. There were no thoughts in his mind, _none,_ he was without thought as he said, “I'm yours.”

He stumbled as Noh-Varr pulled him forward, pulled him close and pressed their mouths together, and when he gasped, startled, the Kree licked into his mouth. He lifted his arms; Noh-Varr's hair was thick and rough between his fingers, and he could feel it _powerfully_ as strong hands stroked down his back to his ass and _squeezed._

“I—”

“Ssh.” Noh-Varr turned them both, swept one arm out to knock things from the counter, and lifted him onto it bodily. His hands went to Thomas' collar, undoing buttons with some speed, and his lips were on Thomas' throat, on the pulse point.

Thomas gasped. “Shouldn't we go somewhere—”

“ _No._ I want you here.” The growl in it made him shudder.

 _“Oh,”_ because now there were no more shirt buttons to undo, Noh-Varr's mouth was on his chest, hands on the fastenings of his belt, and he could only manage, “What if someone sees us?”

“Then they'll envy me.”

“I—wait, really?” Thomas stared down at him. “Envy?”

Noh-Varr looked up from where he was intent on undoing Thomas' trousers and said, almost matter-of-factly, “Anyone who looks at you and doesn't want you is an idiot, and they're welcome watch in jealousy while I make you mine.”

“Hm.” Thomas considered that for a moment. “Well, in that case...” He reached down and grabbed the collar of Noh-Varr's shirt. “Take this off. I want to see you.”

Noh-Varr stared at him for a moment and then nodded. “As you wish.”

He pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it to the side, and Thomas leaned forward to run a hand over his bare chest. “You're...you're beautiful. I mean, I'm a doctor, I've seen all kinds of people with their shirts off, but nobody like you.”

“You flatter me.”

“I don't flatter anyone, I don't believe in flattery. Flattery clouds the mind.” Not that his mind _wasn't_ feeling a little clouded at the moment, but, “You know, this isn't very sanitary.”

“I don't care.” The Kree closed the distance between them and kissed him again, pulling _his_ shirt off the rest of the away and tossing it in a different corner. Hands on Thomas' hips, and he had to grab the other man's shoulders for balance as his trousers and underwear were pulled away. The air in the kitchen was just a bit warm, but he still shivered when Noh-Varr growled in his ear, “I want you.”

“I'm yours. You know, we don't have any—”

“Here.” Noh-Varr reached out and grabbed a bottle, pressing it into his hand.

Thomas looked at it and stifled a laugh. “We can't use this.”

“Why not?”

“This is olive oil.”

“It's perfectly sanitary. The bottle is unopened. Humans have used oil as a lubricant for millenia.”

“Sanitation isn't the _issue_ here. This stuff costs one hundred dollars an _ounce._ You really want this to be a thousand-dollar fuck?”

Noh-Varr fisted a hand in his hair and pulled his head back. “You're worth far more, but this will have to do.” His other hand was undoing his own belt and trousers. “Open the bottle.”

Thomas said, “Why am I not surprise that you're incredibly bossy?” even as he was cracking the seal on the bottle of oil.

“An air of command is a desirable trait.” Noh-Varr shifted, pushing and pulling until he had Thomas flat on his back on the counter, his head hanging off the edge, his cock hard against his stomach, his knees hooked over the Kree's shoulders.

There was a long pause, and Thomas raised himself on his elbows and said, “Well? What are you _waiting_ for? If you want me to give you permission again, I'm telling you right now, yes, yes, I'm yours, yes, _oh._ _Oh_ that's. I. _Oh._ ”

Noh-Varr twisted his fingers, smiling as the doctor sucked in a sharp breath, and said, “I want to hear you say it again.”

“Say wha~ _at?_ ”

_“Mine.”_

_“Yours.”_ The word was a breath-stopped gasp, and then it dragged on into something that wasn't words at all as Noh-Varr pulled Thomas down onto his cock.

He threw his head back, and in the low light his throat was a column of ivory, and Noh-Varr raised an oil-slick hand to stroke his chest and whispered, “Mine.”

\--

In the cockpit, Teddy sat in his chair and raised a hand to the lump on his head, and Billy batted it down again. “Don't pick at it. You'll only make it worse.”

Teddy groaned. “You sound like my mother.”

“I sound like a doctor. I should think I've gotten enough shots for it to be a pretty good impression, too.” Billy looked at him for a moment, and then sat down on the arm of the chair and swung his legs across Teddy's lap. “You were brave.”

“What, for...not getting seduced? I don't really see what everyone else was drooling over. I mean, yeah, sure, cute enough, but—”

“For telling him you were seeing someone.”

“Wait, how did you know that? And anyway, I mean, I know, I don't know if that's really true or—” He was cut off short when Billy leaned down and kissed him, and when they parted he stared, feeling a little thunderstruck. “...I mean. Is it?”

Billy smiled at him. “It's true now." 

\--

On the catwalk in the cargo bay, Kate was rubbing at her throat again, her legs swinging over the edge, and America sat down next to her and said, “You know better than to play with a bruise.”

Kate glanced over at her and then said, in a tiny, forlorn voice, “He said I was beautiful. Nobody's said that to me in...a long time. Maybe never.”

America gazed at her for a long moment and then said, “You're beautiful, Katie. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.”

\--

And in Noh-Varr's bunk, Thomas was asleep in the bed, still in the precise spot where Noh-Varr had set him down once they'd gotten back from the kitchen. Noh-Varr was awake still, his small Cortex terminal glowing dimly in the darkness as he tapped out a short message.

_“This is subject Marvel. I have the Maximoffs. Contact me when you're ready to negotiate.”_

He paused, glanced back at the sleeping doctor, and then hit “send.”


	7. Captainville

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dawn's Archer arrives at a small moon to make a smuggling pickup, only to discover that they've got competition.
> 
> And then to discover that their competition has history there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took ages and is full of Nextwave jokes. So. There's that. ^_^

Kate stared at the Cortex message suspiciously, as if daring it to try something. Most of it was fairly straightforward—confirmation of the moon they needed to head to, a date, pick-up and drop-off instructions. Payment details, _very_ important. But there at the bottom was a little, cryptic note: “Insurance is in place to make sure you're quick about it.”

What the hell did Masque mean by that?

Finally she closed the message, read over the description of the moon they were heading to, and hurried to the cockpit. “Hey, Altman, set our course for _whoa._ Sorry, I'll come back when you're done...”

“Fraternizing?” America rested her chin on Kate's shoulder, grinning.

“Fraternizing! That's the word I was looking for!”

“I don't know, I think it's cute.”

“Do you _mind,_ Captain?” Billy Maximoff finally pulled back from where he'd been glued to Teddy's mouth, leaned from his perch on the pilot's lap, and shot Kate an irritated look. “I'm _trying_ to make up for six years of lost dating time.”

Teddy made a noise of vague protest. “I'm so _flattered_ that that's how you think of me.”

“Hush, you. According to my calculations I'm owed at least two thousand kisses before we even get anywhere _really_ fun.”

Teddy blinked. “We haven't gotten to the fun parts yet?”

Kate coughed. “I'll, uh. Let you get to that. Just...set a course for Thunderbolt when you're done.”

“Will do, Captain—mmph.”

She backed out of the cockpit and closed the door behind her.

As soon as the door was shut she heard a little 'tch' noise, and turned to see that America had leaned back against the wall and started to file her nails. She raised an eyebrow at Kate. “So when did you get to be such a prude, Katie? Normally you'd have just laughed that off. They're _cute._ ”

Kate thudded her head into America's shoulder. “Been twitchy since we turned Akihiro in on Utopia. Just...frustration, I guess.”

“Frustration? Of the...ah. Right.”

“I miss Eli.”

America bit her lip and patted Kate on the shoulder. “I'm sure he's missing you too.”

They stood like that for a moment, and then Kate sighed and said, “Anyway, gotta go find the doctor. He's our cover for this job. I'd do it myself, but nobody's going to believe I'm some rich buyer with these calluses.”

“I _like_ your calluses.”

“Thanks, Missy.” She smiled into America's coat. “But they make me look like an honest laborer. Can't have that. We need someone soft and prissy.”

“Doctor's hardly prissy.”

“He will be if I tell him to be.”

The doctor wasn't in the kitchen, and he wasn't in the passenger quarters, so when Kate saw a white-haired head in the observation window of the infirmary she leaned in and said, “Hey, Noh-Varr, have you seen _whoa,_ whoa, fraternizing. Fraternizing!” She clapped a hand over her eyes. “Public areas! Fraternizing! Have we had some kind of Cupid attack? Are there terrifying space Cupids? You both have private rooms!”

Noh-Varr helped Thomas to his feet without looking at her. “Was there something you wanted, Captain?”

“Since when have you two been...since...I mean, with your brother and Altman it's been obvious for _ages,_ but...oh my god were you the ones who used up half my olive oil?”

“I _told_ you the olive oil was a bad idea.” Thomas raked his fingers through his hair and tossed back a glass of water. “What can I help you with, Captain?”

“I, look, I just...” She let out a long sigh, hand still over her eyes. “Look, Doctor, you're on this next job. Need you to play a rich buyer for the local fuzz.”

“What am I buying?”

“Mud. They sell mud for ship ceramics and they run some salvage.”

“I can do that.”

“Good.” She risked a peek through her fingers. “We should be there in three days. Just...go finish up or whatever. In a _private room._ I don't care what you do, you're both consenting adults—right? I don't need to airlock anyone?” They both shook their heads. “All right, good. You're both consenting adults, do whatever the hell you want, just _not in the public areas._ ”

Noh-Varr nodded. “That's fair. If you'll excuse us, then...”

“Right, of course, go ahead.”

\--

Cassie's shuttle jetted off just before they landed, heading to the private dock of some local bigwig who'd engaged her services. Everyone else gathered in the hold, to “get into character,” as Kate said.

Thomas adjusted his tie and frowned at Billy. “Are you sure you'll be all right by yourself?”

Billy rolled his eyes. “I won't _be_ by myself. Miss Chavez and Jonas will both be here. And I took all my pills. I'm not going to break.”

Jonas smiled serenely. “We'll have a good time.”

“All right, that's all sorted out.” Kate looked them over critically. “Everyone knows what we're doing? The doctor's a rich dilettante, he wants to get into the ceramics trade, Noh-Varr's his bodyguard, we're coming along because they don't know anything. Missy, if you let my boat fall apart while I'm gone I'll kill you in your sleep.”

“Not if I get you first, Captain.”

“Your insubordination wounds me.” Kate grinned at her. “Anyway, our employer mentioned something about ensuring that we get everything done quickly, and she's a nasty type, so keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Let's go.”

The bay doors hissed open, and the “away team” headed out onto the dock and into the bright sun. Most of them reared back almost immediately; the weather was beautiful, warm and sunny with a slight breeze, but that slight breeze only served to throw the rotten scent of mud in their faces.

Kate, however, had frozen at the end of the ramp, gazing narrow-eyed at another ship docked near theirs. As she watched its doors opened, and four people disembarked. She took a deep breath, and then hissed, “Oh. So _that's_ how it is.”

Nate frowned. “Captain? What's—oh.” He immediately ducked behind Noh-Varr, clearly trying not to make it obvious that he was hiding.

 _This,_ of course, got the Kree's attention, and _he_ put a hand on the doctor's shoulder, and Thomas paused and turned to the rest of them, puzzled. “Is something going on?”

Looking terrifyingly less than cheerful, Teddy said, “We have competition.”

They'd been spotted, too. The four from the other ship were coming over, and as they drew close Kate hurried forward and flung her arms around one of them, a striking redhead with an irritated frown. “Why, Cousin _El-_ sie. Fancy seeing _you_ here.”

“Cousin Elsie” patted Kate's shoulder with an expression of distaste. “I was about to say the same thing, Katie dear.”

“You're looking well-preserved.” Kate smiled through her teeth.

The redhead stretched her mouth in something that could have charitably been called a smile. “Eat shit and die, Katie dear.”

Thomas hadn't stopped frowning. He sidled over to where Nate stood half-hidden behind Noh-Varr and muttered, “Who is this again?”

“That's Elsa Bloodstone. She's in our line of work. She and Kate hate each other.”

“Oh. Oh good. And the others?”

“I don't know the other woman or the drunk guy, but the android's name is Aaron.”

“He's an android? I thought he was just terminally fashionable.”

“No, those are just his eyes. Don't drink anything he offers you.”

“He's a poisoner?”

“Only alcohol poisoning, but his homebrew tastes like engine grease.”

Kate and Elsa had pulled back to look at each other, but they still gripped each other's shoulders in a way that would have looked companionable to innocent bystanders and like imminent doom to all of their friends. The redhead was grinning manically. “So, Katie _dear,_ what brings you to Thunderbolt?”

“Business.” Kate's look was sharp enough to cut diamonds. “Same as you, I suspect. We're here to look at mud for my employer.” She gestured back at Thomas. “Mr. Lensherr is looking to get into the ceramics trade.”

Startled, Thomas waved to the crew of the other ship.

Elsa Bloodstone smiled like a knife. “The ceramics trade, Mr. Lensherr? Why, _so_ was I. Perhaps we can look around together.” She moved away from Kate and took Thomas' arm when he offered it. “That's my ship over there, the Shockwave Rider. Aaron Stack is our mechanic, and Ms. Monica Rambeau here is the captain.”

The fourth member of her group blinked and slurred, drunkenly, “ _I'm_ the Captain.”

“He's not the captain, _I'm_ the captain.” Ms. Rambeau rolled her eyes. “Captain is his name.”

“ _Thass_ my name.” He grinned at them, stinking drunk. “Dozzis place look familiar to any of _you?_ Cause...cause I think I've been here before.”

“And...and what does he do?” Thomas eyed the drunken sot warily.

Ms. Rambeau paused, as if she'd never considered it before, and then said, “Public relations.”

“Really.”

But there was someone approaching the dock from the town—an official of some kind, probably, in reasonably good clothing (where it was visible under the mud). “Honored guests! You're both looking into the mud business, I hear! I'm Overseer Talbot.”

“Lensherr.” Thomas shook hands, trying not to grimace as he came away with his fingers coated in mud.

“Bloodstone.” Elsa did _not_ shake hands.

Talbot nodded. “And you...know each other, I see!”

Elsa and Thomas glanced at each other sidelong and said, simultaneously, “We're old rivals.”

The overseer led them out of the tiny spaceport and into town, going on about production figures and the excellent quality of their processing facilities while they tried, desperately, to look interested. The others followed along behind, each group furtively looking for their smuggling connection while trying not to let their rivals do the same.

Finally, when Thomas looked like he was going to start yelling at the droning bore and Elsa looked like she was about to fall asleep on her feet, Kate stepped up and said, pleasantly, “Hey, boss, why don't we just take a look around? Check out the facilities ourselves. Do some exploring.”

Talbot started to protest, but Thomas immediately ran over him with, “Yes! Yes, I'd...I'd like to look around for a bit on my own.”

Elsa was suddenly completely awake. “I would too. I'd like to explore.”

Overseer Talbot frowned nervously. “I, ah, that's not exactly protocol.”

“But we wouldn't _dream_ of keeping you from important work.” Elsa's smile looked more like a grimace now. “ _Would_ we, Mr. Lensherr?”

“Not in the slightest.” Thomas nodded regally. “Go about your work. I'll find you when I'm ready to talk business.”

“Well...if you insist...”

“I insist.”

Talbot departed, looking flustered. The Captain belched foully and said, to nobody in particular, “'m _sure_ I've been here before.”

Kate and Elsa rounded on each other, no longer pretending camraderie. Kate raked a hand through her hair and spat out, “So. Poaching my jobs again?”

“Hardly, Bishop.” Elsa's hand had gone to her gun. “Masque is double-dipping. I suppose she wanted _someone_ competent on hand.”

“Right, so she hired a backstabber, a drunk, a wildly illegal android—heya, Machine Man—and a government toady.”

“And Tabby.”

“Oh, god. Tabby's here?”

Ms. Rambeau sighed. “She's not allowed off the ship.”

The others had spread out and started wandering around the tiny town square, examining what buildings were to hand and trying to avoid bumping into the resident workers (a mixture of humans and small, pop-eyed greenish-brown humanoids). As Kate and Elsa stared each other down yet again, Teddy slowed to a stop and said, “Uh. Captain?”

The Captain let out another drunken belch. “Yeah?”

“Not you. _My_ captain.”

“Not now, Altman!”

“Teddy, what are you—oh, wow.” Nate had come up beside him, staring, eyes wide. “Oh, wow, what? Hey, Aaron, come look at this.”

Noh-Varr peered critically at what Teddy had found. “It's not bad craftsmanship.”

Thomas stared in horror next to him. “I. Uh. No, it isn't. It's actually...very good. And terrifying.”

The others had finally made their way over to see what was getting stared at. The Captain belched again, seeming suddenly _much_ more sober, and said, “I _knew_ I'd been here before!”

It was a statue. Of the Captain. It stood slumped in the town square, larger than life and apparently twice as drunk, its tattered coat and drunken leer lovingly sculpted on. At the bottom of the statue was a plaque that read, “THE CAPTAIN. OUR HERO.”

Everyone stared, and then Aaron the android said, slowly, “Son of a _bitch._ ”

Kate grinned at Elsa and said, “Well, then. I can work with this.”

\-- 

**INTO THE BLACK is a fan-fictional narrative about a group of people who might be heroes and might be criminals and are _definitely_ in trouble all the time.**

\--

_Back on the Dawn's Archer..._

Billy pressed his face against the headrest of the pilot's chair and sighed. He knew that as a passenger and not a member of the crew he wasn't supposed to be in the cockpit by himself, but...it smelled good in there. Like the pilot, who was...relaxing. Teddy was relaxing, and kind, and _very_ handsome, and when Billy was around him it was easier not to think about things. Things like needles and white coats and the smell of disinfectant and an endless litany of ship statistics and repeating the same phrase over and over and _over_ and not being able to make it _work..._

He wasn't crazy. He knew he wasn't. He was just...tense.

He realized that he was muttering to himself when he heard a soft footstep outside the cockpit door, and from the hall Jonas said, “Billy? Are you all right?”

“Fine! I'm fine, _I'mfineI'mfineI'mfine_ I'll be ok!”

“I'm coming in there. You need to eat something.” There was a rattle as the android struggled with the latch on the cockpit door—it had been acting up since Akihiro had jammed it in his attempt to divert the ship—a sound of quiet cursing, and then.

And then Jonas came _through_ the door. Straight through. The door was still closed.

Billy stared at him wide-eyed and then said, “Shit. I've started hallucinating,” and ducked under the console. “I refuse to grow up to be my mother!”

\--

_And elsewhere, on Thunderbolt..._

Cassie had finished lighting the candles and brewing the tea when there was a knock on the door of her shuttle. She answered it and smiled when she saw who stood outside. “You must be Ms. Ross.”

“Betty, please.” The other woman blushed faintly. “And you're Cassandra Lang.”

“You can call me Cassie. Please, come in.”

Betty stepped into the shuttle, glancing back over her shoulder nervously as Cassie shut the door. “My father's going to start throwing a fit any second now.”

Cassie beamed at her. “I thought you said in your message that that was the point.”

\--

Kate had hoped that she and her crew might part ways with their rivals for the evening, but it was apparently not to be—their smuggling connection was nowhere in sight, and the town had only one bar, so finally they had to resort to sitting on opposite sides of the main room, glaring at each other. The Captain had produced a hat from somewhere and pulled it down over his face, apparently hoping to avoid notice. He'd also buttoned his coat, which covered the fairly distinctive star on his shirt, but made him look like a potential flasher.

Noh-Varr sat slouched against the wall, his arm flung across the back of the bench behind Dr. Maximoff's shoulders in a way that wouldn't have looked possessive if you weren't paying attention. “So we have competition and your connection isn't here. What are you planning to do?”

“Well, her drunk friend has history here. We can leverage that. I'm just not sure how.” Kate sipped her drink and made a face. “What _is_ this stuff?”

“As far as I can tell, pure grain alcohol.” Teddy was already through half a pint. “But with peppermint. I like it. Want some, Nate?”

Nate shook his head. “If Aaron sees me drinking, he'll try to make me sample his homebrew again.”

Dr. Maximoff leaned forward in his seat and flagged down one of the little pop-eyed humanoids. “Excuse me.”

The little creature turned, staring at him with moonlike eyes. “Yes?”

“What's that statue we saw outside?”

The creature grinned. “That is the statue! We made it, the Moloids, yes. Of the Captain! We await the return of the Captain.”

“Can I ask...why?”

“The Captain is the savior! He defends the Moloids!” Behind the Moloid there was the sound of a guitar being tuned, and the little creature's face creased in a toothy smile. “They sing the song now! It will explain.”

Across the room, Elsa and her crew had also turned to listen. Elsa looked almost curious, as if she hadn't expected live entertainment, and the human mudders and Moloids alike gazed with shining eyes as the musician finished tuning his guitar and strummed a long chord.

_“Ohhhhhh...here's a tale of the Captain bold_

_A good man, brave and true_

_The Moloids' savior, truth be told_

_And our hero too!”_

Noh-Varr winced. “I don't know _what_ key that's supposed to be.”

Ms. Rambeau and the Captain were staring, horrified, at the musicians. Elsa had buried her face in her hands. Aaron, as the song continued, looked more and more like he was about to die of laughter.

Other people in the room had started to join in, and when the singer reached the first refrain everyone roared out together,

_“The Captain could! The Captain can!_

_The Captain stuck it to the Man!”_

Teddy, who was in the middle of taking a sip of his drink, snorted a laugh and then started swearing quietly as Nate handed him a handkerchief. “Grain alcohol...” he wheezed. “Up the nose.”

Kate looked happier than any of them had seen her in some time. “This is amazing.”

“This is painful.” Noh-Varr was rubbing at his ears.

_“And then knocked over his garbage can!”_

They could see the Captain trying to sink down under Elsa's table, the collar of his coat now pulled up to hide his face.

Thomas listened to the song for another moment and then his eyes went wide. “Don't worry, Captain Bishop, I've got this.”

Everyone glanced at him, startled, and Kate said, “You've got _what?_ ”

“The solution to our problem.” He pulled aside the Moloid he'd been speaking with and they began to talk in low tones.

On the other side of the room, Monica Rambeau seized the Captain by the collar and said, “What. Did. You. Do.”

The Captain shrugged, and when he spoke his voice was muffled by his coat. “I don't know! Got drunk. Hit on a girl. Kinda made a mess. Beat up some cops. Had to hide in a livestock transport to get off-planet.”

“You beat up the _cops?_ ”

Suddenly Elsa started swearing. “And _there's_ our connection, and Bishop's got to her first.”

“I better go before someone notices _me._ ” The Captain pulled his hat even lower and headed for the door. The others glanced at each other and then hurried after him.

The door swung open before they reached it, though, and they froze.

A mixed crowd of humans and Moloids stood outside the bar, watching expectantly. The Moloid that Thomas had been speaking to was at their head, beaming. “The Captain has returned.”

“The Captainnnnn,” the other Moloids intoned reverentially.

The humans in the crowd began to cheer as Elsa and her people looked on in horror.

In the bar, the others turned to Thomas, and Kate said, “What did you _do?_ ”

“I told Merg that Ms. Bloodstone and her crew had brought the Captain back to be their saviour, and that the Moloids should throw them a party and show them a good time, and that they should have a Captain's Day celebration tomorrow.” He looked pleased with himself. “That should provide us with ample cover to get our friend here's merchandise out of the safe drop and to the ship without interruption by the local law enforcement, and it'll keep Bloodstone and her people occupied. They're very unreliable,” he said to their connection, who nodded thoughtfully.

Noh-Varr looked surprised. “That was almost cruel.”

“I know. I know! I haven't had this much fun in...oh, wow, five years.” Thomas glanced at the open door, through which they could see Elsa and her crew being lifted onto the shoulders of the cheering mob, and then collapsed on Noh-Varr, shaking with laughter. “Oh, it's Captain's Day...”

Noh-Varr looked even _more_ surprised as the doctor fell over his lap and then, almost _gingerly,_ wrapped his arm around Thomas' shoulders.

Kate looked at his hand on the doctor's arm and smirked before turning to their connection. “So. When should we make the pickup?”

\--

**INTO THE BLACK: If you're not already excited, what are you even doing here?**

\--

_Back on the ship..._

America jimmied the cockpit door open, leaned in, and stared. “Jonas, what's going on here?”

The android looked up, startled. “I just wanted him to eat some lunch...”

“I'm not coming out!” came the voice from beneath the console. “Not until you can prove he's real!”

“What did you _do_ to him?”

“Nothing!” Jonas looked distressed at this point. “The door was stuck. I just...” he got to his feet and walked _through_ the pilot's chair.

America jumped and shoulder-checked him into the wall. “ _Shit,_ I—sorry, just...don't _do_ that. Saw too many androids coming through walls in the war.”

He blinked. “Oh. ...oh, yes, I apologize.”

“Now.” She crouched and peered at Billy, peeking out from under the console. “Billy, sweetie, you come on out, ok? He's real. I just hit him, right?”

“That's not proof! You could be a hallucination too!”

“Kid, you get out here right now or I'm dragging you out.”

Jonas covered his smile with his hand. Billy stared at America for a moment and then said, “Ok. You're real. I'll come out.”

\--

The initial revelries for the return of the Captain lasted late into the night, in part because the Moloids were enthusiastic and in part because Teddy kept calling for more drinks. _He,_ at least, was enjoying himself, as was Aaron, who'd finally cornered Nate with his latest batch of homebrew. The two had staggered out some time ago, arms around each other, to go vomit uproariously in a corner of the square. Thomas learned the words to the Captain Song and led the crowd in several rousing refrains before falling asleep with his head in Noh-Varr's lap. Elsa and Monica, meanwhile, drank very slowly and simply got meaner and meaner as the night progressed, while Kate chatted pleasantly to them as if nothing was even slightly wrong.

\-- 

_The next morning..._

Cassie and Betty woke early, and were having tea when the quiet of Cassie's shuttle was split by a roar from outside. After a moment, Betty's little communicator went off, and when she read the message on it she sighed. “Oh, _no._ Daddy...”

Cassie frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, we've apparently got smugglers on the planet. Daddy hates smugglers. And one of them made him really angry a while ago. Sort of a local hero, actually.”

The color went out of Cassie's face. “A local hero? What did she do?”

“He, actually. A man called the Captain, I never caught his real name.” Betty smiled a bit. “He got drunk and hit on me. Then he went to the bathroom on the lawn and knocked over our trashcans. Daddy put the cops after him, he ran, and he stumbled onto a meeting in the town that Talbot's jerks were trying to break up and got in a dust-up with _them._ The poor Moloids thought he was defending them.”

Cassie tried to conceal her sigh of relief. “So local hero.”

“They made a statue of him.” Betty's communicator buzzed again. “And...oh, Daddy. He's saying he wants to have all the smugglers rounded up and shot. Apparently it's quite a gang.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I wish he'd unbend a little bit...”

Across the table, Cassie had gone white again. She took a slow sip of her tea, watching Betty closely, and then said, “Betty, why did you call me here?”

Betty went a bit pink. “I wanted to make him angry. I mean, not that I didn't...have a nice time. I don't think... _this_...is for me, but he's so _overbearing,_ and he's always trying to set me up with Talbot, who's _such_ a toad. And he's so terrible to the people here, but I don't know what to do about it.”

“Betty.” Cassie reached across the table and covered the other woman's hand with her own. “There are better ways to stand up to your father than sleeping with people he disapproves of, you know.”

\--

By the time the Captain's Day celebrations were in full swing, Nate had gone back to the ship and sent America out with the mule in his place. There were a lot of crates to load at the pick-up location, and it took everyone's help to get them piled on—everyone, that is, except the doctor, who had stayed behind in town at Noh-Varr's insistence. “It's more dangerous for us,” the Kree had said, seriously. “We're actually doing something illegal. You stay. We'll come get you afterward.”

So instead he was slumped on a bench in the bar, treating his hangover with water and eggs and wincing at each loud cheer that rose from the town square. It had seemed like such a _good_ idea last night. A perfect distraction. Of course, that was what he _always_ thought when he was drunk.

Outside, the humans cheered again, and he could hear the Moloids intoning, “The Captainnnnn! The Captain has returned! He protects the Moloids!”

When was the last time he'd been drunk? Five years ago? Six? He'd gotten drunk after his collapse in surgery, he remembered that, but then he'd been looking for Billy and hadn't been able to relax.

A dark shadow fell over his plate of eggs. He looked up into the mirror visor of a helmet. “Ah...can I help you?”

“Lensherr? Owner of the cargo ship Dawn's Archer?”

It took him a moment to remember his cover; he hadn't heard his grandfather's name so regularly in years. “...yes, that's me. Why?”

A heavy hand landed on his shoulder. “You're under arrest for smuggling. Please come with us.”

\--

The mule was loaded, and America and Teddy had just rolled off to take it back to the ship when Noh-Varr raised his head, frowning. “Something's wrong in the town.”

Kate frowned at him. “Wrong? Wrong how?”

The air split with screaming, and then there was a feedback squeal and a megaphone boom of, “ATTENTION, SMUGGLERS. YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST, BY ORDER OF MAGISTRATE ROSS.”

Noh-Varr's eyes went wide, and his nostrils flared. “Dr. Maximoff is in danger.”

He held out his hand, and Kate grabbed it without thinking, letting him swing her up onto his back before he broke into a run. She clung to him as the wind whipped past their face, and bare seconds later, it seemed, they were skidding to a stop in the town square.

The human residents of the town were cowering away from a cluster of helmeted law enforcement goons, and the Moloids were staring in moon-eyed horror at Thomas, who sagged between two of them. There was a bruise spreading on the doctor's temple. Elsa Bloodstone and her people were standing frozen in the middle of the square, hands going for weapons, feet sliding into ready stances.

Kate hissed, her hand going for her crossbow as Noh-Varr let her down. One of the cops raised his megaphone again and roared, “CITIZENS, YOU ARE ORDERED TO DISPERSE OR YOU WILL BE SHOT.”

The human mudders stared, shaking, and then slowly straightened as a group and stood their ground. One at the front shouted, “We're staying right here! We're sick of you breaking us up whenever we want to meet!”

“Yes!” said the Moloids as one, turning their round eyes to the Captain. “The Captain will protect us! The Captain guards the Moloids!”

The Captain blinked blearily. “Look, little guys, I don't really know where you got this idea that I'm—”

At that point things started happening very quickly.

\--

**INTO THE BLACK: Things happen fast here.**

\--

Dr. Maximoff raised his head and moaned in pain as the light hit his eyes, and then saw Kate and Noh-Varr and shouted, “Run! They're going to have all of you shot!”

Elsa Bloodstone hissed and grabbed at her gun.

The cops raised _their_ guns, pointing some at Bloodstone, her crew, and Kate and Noh-Varr. One, however, was pointed straight at Thomas.

Two shots rang out.

And Noh-Varr darted forward, knocking the Captain down in a rush to get past. He barreled into the cops and swept Thomas off his feet, choking off a small noise of pain as one cop's bullet hit him in the shoulder.

There was a confusing blur of motion, and then the cops were on the ground groaning. Noh-Varr stood over where the Captain was still struggling to get up, the doctor slung over his shoulders like a very rumpled sack of potatoes.

The light hit him _just_ so. He looked very heroic.

The human mudders stared in shock, and the Moloids let out a long, drawn-out, “Oooooohhhhh.”

The lead mudder stepped forward hesitantly and said, “What's...what's your name?”

Noh-Varr frowned at him. “Noh-Varr. Why?”

There was a long pause, and then the Moloids said, “The Nooooohhhhhh.”

Kate made a little choking noise.

The Moloids bowed deeply. “The Noh! The Noh guards the Captain! The Noh guards the Moloids! The Noh!”

Noh-Varr looked somewhat perturbed by all this. “Hero worship is the diseased product of a society that doesn't know how to regulate itself properly.”

“The Noh gives us his wisdom!”

“You all disgust me.”

“The Noh! Cheers for the Noh!”

“How about that, Noh-Varr.” Thomas grinned weakly. “You're a hero again. You keep doing hero things. Oh, my _head..._ ”

The lead law enforcement goon was struggling to his feet again, gun at the ready. “You are hereby—pardon?” They could hear, faintly, the static crackle of his in-helmet communicator. “But Magistrate Ross said—yes, ma'am. No, yes, of course. But they—yes, ma'am. Yes, I see.” He lowered his gun, looking as abashed as he could with a face-concealing visor. “You're...all free to go.”

\--

“You did _what?_ ”

“I called them off, Daddy. The only reason we get smugglers here is because _you_ won't reassess your import and export fees. Right now they're _antiquated._ ”

\--

“How about that, Elsie.” Kate grinned at her rival as the two groups returned to the tiny spaceport together. “You owe me one.”

“I loathe you with every fiber of my being, you snot-nosed little creature.”

“Love you too, Cousin Elsie.”

In the cargo hold, Thomas was tugging on Noh-Varr's hand, smiling. “Come on. You need to go to the infirmary, I want to take a look at that gunshot wound.”

Noh-Varr scowled. “I'll be fine.”

“Come _on,_ hero. We wouldn't want the Guardian of the Moloids to get gangrene.”

“I can't _get_ gangrene.”

“Have you considered that maybe I'm trying to get you alone, oh great hero?”

Noh-Varr blinked. “That hadn't occurred to me, no.”

Kate glanced over her shoulder and shouted, “Fraternizing! Public areas! Keep it private, you two!”

Billy Maximoff peered out from where he'd tucked himself behind the new batch of crates. “Were they really...?”

“ _Oh_ yeah. _Very_ public. At least you and Altman keep it kind of PG-13.”

Billy nodded thoughtfully. “That's a good point. I should fix that.”

America choked off a laugh in the doorway to the rest of the ship, and Kate groaned. “Do what you like, kid. Just...do it in private.”

Faintly, in the direction of the village, they heard a rising cheer of, “The Noh!”

“All right, Altman, we're set and ready!” Kate hit the button to close the bay doors. “Let's get this bird in the air again!”

\-- 

The message light on Noh-Varr's Cortex terminal was blinking when he got back to his room in the passenger quarters. He checked to make sure that he hadn't been followed—he'd left the doctor sleeping in his own room, but his brother was always wandering around—and then pulled up the new message on the screen and nodded in approval when he'd read it.

_“Subject Marvel: We received your message. H.A.M.M.E.R. is prepared to negotiate.”_


	8. Subject Marvel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn's Archer arrives on a core planet, and the crew pulls a job that goes _very_ south for the Maximoffs and Noh-Varr.

Even at two days out from the actual planet, Van Dyne airspace was much busier than the crew of the Dawn's Archer was used to, and certainly busier than most of them liked. Freighters lumbered by at glacial speeds, weighted down with crates of food supplies and a variety of luxuries. Passenger transports and the slimline yachts of the very rich drifted along lazily around the outer moons. At one point they were passed by an alien diplomatic vessel painted in colors that no human would ever have wanted on their ship.

And of course, the whole place was crawling with Avengers law enforcement troops.

Despite that, though, there was something of a festival mood on the ship. After their most recent smuggling job, they actually had enough money to do some restocking of the ship's supplies, and every room buzzed with the promise of real food, one or two new parts, and a few days' relaxation. Even without shore leave—which Kate had flatly refused to grant, given their fugitive status and the high alert status continually in effect on the planet—it was going to be good to be grounded.

Kate complained anyway.

“ _Why_ do we need to be at the core, again?”

Cassie looked up from where she was pulling a comb through Nate's hair and beamed. “Required yearly physicals, Katie. You remember. To make sure I haven't caught some kind of horrible space plague from all of my disreputable friends.”

Nate tilted his head up. “ _I_ don't have space plague.”

“ _You're_ not disreputable.” She winked at him.

“I _could_ be.”

Kate groaned. “You two are so cute it's disgusting. I thought Companions weren't allowed to be cute with people.”

“It's a matter of personal choice, really. As long as I don't let it interfere with my work I can be cute with whoever I like.”

She stalked out, rolling her eyes. “What are we going to do for four days on a core planet?”

“Hot springs?” America caught her around the waist and swept her into a dance in the corridor, grinning. “We could both use a break. Captain-first mate bonding time?”

“Missy, what's gotten _into_ you?”

“...no hot springs?”

“What do you want to drag me to hot springs for anyway?”

America stared at her for a moment and then sighed minutely. “Nothing. It was just a thought.”

In the passenger quarters, Dr. Maximoff woke up wrapped serpentine around Noh-Varr and said, “Mm,” into his hair.

Noh-Varr shifted. “So you're finally awake.”

“Mm-hm. Have you just been lying here putting up with me?”

“For about half an hour now.”

“I can't believe I ever suspected you. You're so _pleasant._ Do you know how long it's been since I got to wake up next to the same person more than one day in a row? Barring when Billy has a panic attack, of course. I haven't felt this relaxed in _years._ ”

In response, Noh-Varr twisted around in Thomas' grip, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and pulled him in for a lengthy kiss. “Your company is a rare pleasure in a thankless universe. You should go tell the captain your idea.”

At that Thomas suddenly sobered. “You think she'll agree? I _really_ need access to those machines.”

“I think she'll be very happy to have something to occupy her time on a core planet.”

–

“You want us to sneak you into a hospital.”

“Yes.”

“You want us to sneak you _and_ your crazy brother into a _major hospital_ on a _core planet_ past _highly trained security_ _guards_ so you can use their special machines and get access to their drug stores.”

“...yes?”

“And in exchange we get to steal all the expensive resaleable medicine we can carry?”

“Definitely.”

“And we won't _kill_ anybody by stealing this medicine?”

“They can be restocked within fifteen minutes.”

“Do you have any idea _how_ we're supposed to sneak you and your crazy brother into said hospital?”

“I have extensive notes on the procedure. It's foolproof. Which should _ideally_ mean that it's also captain-proof.”

Kate grinned, ignoring the quiet insult. “Done. You have a deal, Doctor.”

Thomas almost drooped with relief. “Thank you, Captain.”

“Let's go tell the others and we can start making solid plans.”

–

“Look, Marvel—”

“I have a name.”

The man on the terminal screen rolled his eyes. “Look, _Noh-Varr_ , all we need is a time and a place for the pickup.”

Noh-Varr sat back from the screen a bit. “Not until you confirm the details of my reward.”

Another eye roll. “Got them right here. Monetary reward for the return of subject Witchbreed, _half_ of the monetary reward for the capture of potential subject Mercury, as you agreed.”

“And instead of the other half of the money...?”

“I have official ident documents here confirming your emancipation and your status as a citizen of the Avengers Federation of Planets, and a promise from Osborne that he'll talk with the Empire _personally._ They'll drop into the system as soon as I send confirmation that I've got the prisoners.”

Noh-Varr hissed through his teeth at the sight of the data stick the man on the screen held up, eyes flicking to the tiny H.A.M.M.E.R logo emblazoned at the base, and then nodded. “Tomorrow. Van Dyne Memorial Hospital. Fourteen hundred hours. I'll get them to the loading docks.”

“Deal.”

– 

This is how the job started:

Cassie's shuttle jetted off not long before Dawn's Archer docked, heading for the private port owned by the Van Dyne chapter of the Guild of Companions. Jonas went with her; he wasn't involved in the job, there was no place for him, and in any case someone needed to be around to receive communications should the job go south. Nate wasn't happy about it.

The supplies run got finished quickly, so that they didn't have to worry about it after the job in case they were on the run. Nate canvassed the scrapyards for additional parts, America and Kate went over the hospital floor plans, Teddy spent a happy afternoon repainting an ancient transport to look like a new ambulance while Billy watched him, and Noh-Varr disappeared briefly and came back with false ident cards and hospital uniforms so convincing that Thomas kissed him in the middle of the common areas.

They all slept restlessly. Billy crept out of his bunk in the middle of the night, wandered over to the crew quarters, and crawled into bed with Teddy, burying his face in the pilot's chest. “I have very bad feelings about this job.”

Teddy nosed at the top of Billy's head. “It'll all be fine. We'll get you in, your brother'll get to figure out what they did to you, and we'll get you out.”

“What if we don't get out?”

The pilot's arms tightened around him. “Then I'll _personally_ tear down every building on this planet until we find you. You're not going back.”

In the passenger quarters, where he still resided despite having been an “official” member of the crew for some time, Noh-Varr came with a shout as Thomas writhed rather attractively beneath him. They fell asleep side by side, not quite touching, but when he woke later that night he was disturbed to find that the doctor had wormed into his arms. Even more disturbing was how much he liked it, how content he felt.

He moved a bit, and the doctor made a sleepy noise and pressed closer.

Noh-Varr _wanted_ him.

_The supplementary storage closet was chilly._

_“You want him.”_

_“Hm?” Noh-Varr looked up from polishing his guns and found that Akihiro was watching him. The bounty hunter was bound, arms crossed on his chest, fists pressed against his shoulders. “Did you say something, Mongrel?”_

_“If I'd realized that earlier I would've done all this so_ differently. _” Akihiro smirked. “I would have seduced_ him. _Much more straightforward. It wouldn't have been difficult, not for me. And then he and his adorable twin would have just followed me straight to Osborne, with you stumbling along behind, desperate to catch up before you lost him forever.”_

_Noh-Varr's back went stiff. “You're mistaken.”_

_“I don't think so. Don't worry,_ I _won't tell him you're planning on turning him in. That'd spoil the_ surprise, _and I'm_ hardly _against you getting laid. Might loosen you up a little.” A pause, and Akihiro's lips twitched, baring his teeth in a joyless, feral smile. “I would have made you watch. He's got a nice mouth; I think it would look_ very _good on my—”_

The nice thing about people with augmented healing, Noh-Varr thought grimly as the doctor shifted in his arms, was that when you broke their noses, they healed. And then you could do it again.

He didn't want to think about why he'd been so angry.

Thomas opened one eye and murmured, sleepily, “I have very good feelings about this job.”

Noh-Varr looked at him, looked down at his own arms around Thomas' shoulders, and then shifted forward and pressed his lips against the side of the doctor's neck in something that was only half a kiss, something meant to leave a mark. Which it did, when he pulled back; he could see the shape of his mouth blooming on the doctor's skin. Whatever else happened, during the hand-off or after, that mark would remain.

Thomas had made a groggy noise of surprise at the feel of his lips, and now he let out a slurring laugh. “That'll be hard to hide.”

“Don't hide it. I want everyone to see.”

\--

This is how the job continued:

“We're going to die.”

“It's only temporary.” Thomas filled the injector and then turned to where his brother sat on the exam bed. “All it's going to do is make it _look_ like we're dead. We won't _really_ be.”

Billy made a face. “I know what it does. Just because I wasn't a med student—”

“Then what are you complaining about?”

“I just have a bad feeling. And _you_ have an _enormous_ hickey, it's going to look like some kind of bizarre sex thing if they actually take a look at us.”

Thomas' mouth twitched; he almost smiled. “Shut up, Billy.”

Billy grinned. “Make me, _Tommy._ ”

Then Thomas dealt with the injections, and even Kate and America, who'd seen plenty of dead bodies during the war, stared for a moment in awkward disquiet before loading their seemingly lifeless corpses into the transport coffins and loading those onto their fake ambulance.

Just before they got to the hospital, Teddy chewing his lip at the wheel, Kate turned to America and Noh-Varr and said, “So. We all know where we're going?”

“We've been over the plan five times, Captain. We know what we're doing.” But America was drumming on one of the transport coffins.

“Not like we're pulling some _completely_ unfamiliar kind of heist or anything.”

“Shut up, Altman.”

They blew through DOA check-in like it was nothing, at least—Kate and her two companions moved with such purpose that nobody questioned that they were in the right place—and peeled off where the hall split. Kate and America headed directly for the pharmacy wing, wheeling an empty coffin on a gurney; Noh-Varr took the gurney with the two Maximoffs towards the major diagnostics department.

\--

In the hospital administration offices, the director coughed nervously. “Who did you say you were again?”

The two bald men who sat across from him glanced at each other, and then one of them, the memorably-scarred one, said, “Law enforcement.”

“May I ask what branch?”

“That's classified.”

The other agent, a thin man with a thuggish look and an unhealthy pallor to his skin, said, “Look, all you need to know is, you got dangerous fugitives in your hospital. We don't want any of your security monkeys getting in our way.”

“I—of course, of course.” The director tugged nervously at his tie. “That's a very unusual scar, Agent...”

“Just Agent is fine.” The first man tapped at his forehead, grinning toothily. “The scar's all the name I really need.”

The second agent shifted. “Let's go, 'fore the alien freak twigs on.”

“Sounds good.” The first agent tapped the scar on his forehead again and then mimed firing a gun at the hospital director. “Don't you worry your security guards about a thing. Just keep them out of it. I've got the fugitives in my sights.”

\--

“These tox readings don't make _sense._ ” Thomas scowled at the readout on the monitor. “Why were they giving you euphorics? Hallucinogens? What _purpose_ does that serve?”

“Heighten the senses.” Billy was tense in the scanner, eyes wide, clearly fending off panic. “Augment the mind. Make it _bigger._ ”

“So you could do _what?_ Panic at shadows?” He minimized that display and started downloading the diagnostic files onto the data stick he'd brought in. “And...they were doing _gene therapy?_ You don't need gene therapy, we don't have any hereditary—what _is_ this sequence? I don't even _recognize_ this gene sequence—wait, no, this is _junk_ DNA, they thought ages ago that it was the key to something monumental, but...and...and a drug that interacts with it...”

Noh-Varr frowned. “You recognize gene sequences that quickly?”

“Of _course_ I do, I have an unusually developed memory. I learn the material, Billy figures out what to _do_ with it. It used to be a trick we'd do in—” Suddenly his mouth went tight. “Billy. Why do you have cranial scarring.”

Billy shuddered. “Couldn't tell you. I blocked a lot of that stuff out.”

Just as Thomas disconnected the data stick and moved over to another piece of equipment, Noh-Varr lifted his head suddenly. “Someone's coming.”

Thomas started. “What?”

“Someone's coming. Sounds like hospital security. We need to go.” At the doctor's hesitation he snarled, _“Hurry.”_

They bundled Billy out of the diagnostic machine and into a wheelchair and started wheeling him down the hall—apparently just a doctor, an orderly, and a nervous patient.

Turning a corner, they found that they had to slow down; this part of the hospital was more populated, and the halls were busy. Through the heat-distortion of a sanitation field on one door they could see brain surgery being performed, the expanded image up on a monitor while the surgeon bent over his patient, surrounded by interns.

Billy frowned. “Stop. Stop moving.”

Surprised, Thomas did stop. “What is it?”

“There's something wrong in that surgery.”

Thomas leaned forward to squint through the sanitation field and then released the handles of the wheelchair with a start just as the life sign monitors in the surgery room started to shriek. “Stay _here,_ both of you.”

Before Billy or Noh-Varr could say anything, Thomas had rolled up his sleeves and moved straight in to the surgery. The surgeon was staring wide-eyed at the monitors, as if frozen; the nurses were doing what they could to stabilize the patient.

Thomas snapped his fingers. “Mask. Gloves.”

A nurse handed him both.

The surgeon seemed to start to life. “You can't just—”

“Is this your _first_ surgery unassisted?”

A pause, and then the surgeon nodded numbly.

“Give me that scalpel, imbecile. You're removing a blood clot, not amputating a limb.”

Then, for a few minutes, it seemed that there was nothing but motion, a strange slow-fast precison as Thomas bent over the patient on the operating table, snapping orders at the nurses and the surgeon alike. They all moved automatically, almost as if they were in shock at his sudden appearance. Billy and Noh-Varr couldn't see what he was doing, the surgical shield masking Thomas' movements. It almost looked like he was conducting a symphony.

And then, “Done. Close it up. I assume you have all the necessary equipment to hand?”

The nurses moved in, businesslike, and the surgeon who'd been operating swallowed hard behind his mask and said, “I'm sorry. Thank you. I just...”

“You got _stage fright._ ” Thomas' expression wasn't _entirely_ unsympathetic, but he certainly didn't look pleased.

“I—”

“Your patient will live. Your patient will even heal, in time.” He raised one thin white eyebrow. “ _You,_ however, should consider avoiding delicate surgeries until such time as you can perform one without a _nanny._ ”

“But—”

He stripped off his gloves and mask, dropping them into the doubly-sanitized biohazard container. “I have other work to attend to. But your patient could have died today. Learn to keep your _head_ together.”

Then he stalked out of the operating room, took hold of the handles of Billy's wheelchair, and continued on down the hall. His brows were drawn down in a frown, but other than that his face was filled with something that almost looked like joy.

Noh-Varr watched him walk for a moment and almost lost his step.

\-- 

“Got 'em on the screen,” the scarred agent said, grinning at the security monitors. “They're heading for the loading dock now. Let's go get 'em.”

The pale agent frowned. “You shouldn't've done that, Lester. Boss'll be pissed.” He was watching one of the hospital security guards, flopped lifeless in the corner with a thin sliver of pencil protruding from the precise center of his windpipe.

“He shouldn't've been arguing with me.”

“Not supposed to kill extra people.”

“Come on, Mac, I gotta have _some_ fun.”

“Can we get this _over_ with? I'm _hungry._ ”

“You're always hungry.” 

\--

Dr. Maximoff looked at their surroundings, frowning. “This isn't the way we were supposed to go. Where are we?”

“Change of plans.” Noh-Varr was all business, his eyes not meeting the doctor's, although on occasion his gaze did flick down to where the dark mark of his own mouth stood out above the doctor's collar. “I could hear security guards coming in the direction that we'd planned on going.”

“Why the loading dock, though? Do you have a way to get in touch with Altman or the captain so that they can come get us here?”

Billy looked around nervously, and then his eyes went wide and he started to stand up from his wheelchair. “ _Tommy._ Tommy, I have a really bad feeling about—”

He cut off short, and Thomas turned around to see a small tranquilizer dart sprouting from the side of his brother's neck. _“Billy!”_

“Afternoon, Marvel.”

Thomas jumped, and beside him Noh-Varr's hand came down heavy on his shoulder and the Kree said, “I have a _name._ ”

“Yeah, right, I know, you got a name.” The scarred agent stepped out from one of the shadows in the loading dock, gesturing with the tiny tranquilizer gun he carried. “So do I, but you don't see _me_ bitching. Bullseye's good enough for me.”

The doctor's eyes had gone wide. “Noh-Varr, what's going on?”

“Do you _have_ it?”

“ _I_ don't.” Agent Bullseye made another expressive gesture with his tranq gun. “Agent Venom?”

The other one—Agent Venom—materialized from the shadows behind him and held up a little data stick. “Right here. Hey, Marvel, long time no see.”

“I _have_ a _name._ ”

“Noh-Varr, you didn't—you can't have—” Thomas unfroze suddenly, moving swiftly forward to where his brother had slumped on the ground. Billy waved blearily to him as he started working to remove the tranquilizer dart. “Come on, Billy, get up, we need to move, we're in big trouble—”

“Give it to me.”

“In a _second._ You always were pushy.” Agent Bullseye jerked his chin at the Maximoffs. “Pack 'em up, Mac.”

Agent Venom had seemed all elbows and ill-health when he stood still, but suddenly, as he moved forward, he become all grace and flow, practically slithering across the dock towards the doctor and his drowsing brother. Dr. Maximoff watched him, wide-eyed, like an animal watching the oncoming lights of a rolling freight train, and then Agent Venom came almost close enough to touch them and—

The doctor was _actually_ a blur, leaping to his feet and moving around the agent faster than the eye could see even as Agent Bullseye said, “Yeah, ok, you can have it now,” and raised his tranquilizer gun and fired _at Noh-Varr._

Noh-Varr dodged, also too swift for sight, “Bullseye, what—”

“Boss wants you back, Marvel. We _miss_ you.”

Agent Venom dove for Dr. Maximoff, who blurred away again. “What the _fuck—_ ”

“Noh-Varr, what's _happening?_ ” Thomas blurred to a stop next to him. “I don't know _why_ I'm moving like this. Who _are_ these people? What are you _doing?_ ” And then another dodge as Agent Venom dove for him again.

“Hey, Lester, I can't get the fancy one to keep still!”

Noh-Varr snarled as he dodged another shot from Agent Bullseye. “You tricked me.”

“Can't trick property. You ain't a person, I can lie to you _all_ I like.” Agent Bullseye loosed another shot and then slapped a button on his gun, grinning, as near Noh-Varr's feet Dr. Maximoff started to run for the nearest exit, speed hampered by the weight of his brother in his arms. “Hey, Marvel, wanna see a magic trick?” He tossed his gun up in the air and _something_ slid out of one of his sleeves and into his hand.

Before Noh-Varr could say anything, the doctor let out a shout of agony, a flechette dart sprouting from the back of one of his legs. His pants were soaked with blood almost immediately, Billy tumbling to the ground as he fell.

Agent Bullseye nodded to Agent Venom. “Kill that one. Witchbreed's all we need.”

Agent Venom moved forward, some black ooze coming up the side of his neck from underneath the collar of his jacket, and—

He was flung to one side of the loading dock, hitting the wall with a loud _crack_ as Noh-Varr charged forward. The other agent was raising his gun again, but before he could fire Noh-Varr was there, a whirlwind of fury, _lifting_ him up and throwing him across the room to the opposite wall.

Noh-Varr came to rest beside the doctor and his brother and only paused for a moment before picking Billy up over one shoulder and putting his other arm around the doctor. “Come on. Stand up. We need to go before they wake up.”

\--

The captain started swearing when she saw Billy unconscious and the doctor bleeding. The drive back to the ship was mostly consumed by triage, America extracting the flechette from the doctor's leg while Kate applied a dermaplast, sealing over the wound. Thomas kept up a continual stream of curses of his own, peppered with instructions delivered in caustic tones and occasionally interrupted by Teddy's attempts at levity from the front of the ambulance.

Noh-Varr said nothing; he simply sat at the back of the compartment, staring out the window.

Once they reached Dawn's Archer, Billy was awake again, at least partially. America and Teddy hauled in the coffin full of stolen medical supplies and rushed for the cockpit of the ship while Kate helped Thomas and Billy up the ramp, Noh-Varr trailing behind them.

“Doctor, you going to be all right?”

The ship started to lift off the ground, and Thomas nodded and then darted forward with a wince and slapped one of the buttons on the hatch controls.

The internal airlock door slammed down, trapping Noh-Varr behind it, at the entrance to the ship. Another slap of a button and the outer hatch door stopped moving midway through closing up.

Kate's eyes went wide. “Doctor, what the _hell_ are you doing?”

Thomas was panting, unsteady on his injured leg. “It was him.”

“ _What_ was—he made the call.”

“It was him. I'll _kill_ him.”

Through the airlock window, they could see Noh-Varr standing in the outer bay, watching them. He wasn't saying anything; his eyes never left the doctor's face.

The comm crackled on. _“Captain, I'm having trouble with the hatch doors—”_

“Give us a second, Altman, we're taking care of it. Maintain this altitude.” Kate looked at Noh-Varr for a moment and then turned to Thomas and said, “Doctor, you've never killed anyone in your life and I don't mean to let you start. You need to step away from the hatch controls.”

“Captain, you can't just tell me—Billy, what is it?”

Billy was tugging at his pants leg. “He doesn't deserve it. _Nobody_ wants to go back there.”

“Billy, he tried to—”

“Noh-Varr.” Kate had activated the airlock comm. “What have you got to say for yourself?”

There was a long pause. Noh-Varr said nothing.

Then—

“What's he _doing?_ ”

His hands had gone to his collar; as they watched he took off his jacket and shirt and dropped them. They went whipping out the half-open hatch, and the Kree stood bare-chested in the outer bay.

He dropped to his knees, put his arms behind his back, and lifted his head high, eyes never leaving the doctor's face.

Thomas stared.

Kate stared too, looking disturbed, and then nodded a recognition at Noh-Varr and said, “Nobody is dying on my ship today.”

Before the doctor could argue with her she'd pulled him away from the controls and hit the buttons to close the outer hatch door and open the inner one. Noh-Varr didn't stand as the inner airlock door opened; he remained on the floor, still silent, still watching the doctor.

Thomas' mouth worked for a moment, as if there were a number of things he wanted to say and he didn't know which one to start with, and then he said, “You _disgust_ me.”

Noh-Varr said nothing.

“Come on, Billy, we need to go flush the tranqs out of your system.” The doctor limped off with his arm around his brother's shoulders.

Once they were alone in the cargo bay, Kate looked at Noh-Varr and said, “Stand up. This isn't the Kree army, and I haven't got a firing squad handy today.”

Noh-Varr stood up with a barely audible, “Understood, Captain.”

“And...we'll talk about this. Later.”


	9. High Society

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip to Madripoor to fence the stolen medicine gets derailed when Kate gets dragged into negotiating a smuggling deal for Loki--at a high society party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that the Justin Hammer appearing in this chapter is the sleazy Sam Rockwell Justin Hammer from _Iron Man 2_ , who is my favorite Justin Hammer and also the most funny.

The sound of heavy boots in the corridor was the only warning anyone had to get out of the way before Billy Maximoff came charging through the mess, laughing. Teddy came through a moment after, red-faced, shouting joyfully.

Nate stared after them from his perch on the counter. “What's gotten into _them?_ ”

America shrugged. “High spirits?” _She_ was perched on the table, cutting her apple into neat sections, and at the sound of a scuffle on the catwalk she hopped down and moved over to the door, Kate following curiously behind her.

Billy Maximoff had filled out somewhat since they'd first unpacked him from his cryo-chamber. He still wasn't as fit as his brother, was still dressed mainly in the crew's cast-offs, but now, almost a year out from his escape and on better medication after the heist on Van Dyne, he practically vibrated with life.

At the moment he'd climbed up on the railing, balanced precariously over the cargo bay with a bright red apple clutched in one hand. Teddy was on the catwalk below him, looking simultaneously amused and terrified. “Captain, he stole my apple!”

Billy grinned triumphantly. “No power in the 'verse can stop me!”

“But there are other apples!”

“I wanted yours.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “And _that's_ not a metaphor or anything. Get a _room,_ you two.”

Back in the mess, Nate looked over at Jonas and frowned. “I didn't know you _needed_ to eat.”

“I do not.” Jonas took a slow, thoughtful bite of his apple. “But I can. It helps connect me to the world. I am curious as to why Noh-Varr bought us a whole case of fresh apples, though.”

“Not a clue. And that's _fascinating._ And...speak of the devil.”

Noh-Varr wandered in, looking discontent, and took an apple from the open case. “Have any of you seen the doctor?”

Nate shrugged. “He went to talk to Cassie. I think he's in her shuttle.”

\--

Thomas leaned his head back against Cassie's knees, letting his eyes close slowly. “This is nice. This is...this is simple.”

Cassie beamed down at him and reached for her comb. “You have beautiful hair.”

“I don't know what to do _,_ Cassie.” His hands blurred as he spoke, flipping a tablet stylus around his fingers at a speed the human eye couldn't process. “I hate him. He _saved_ me, he's saved me _and_ Billy, more than once, but he also...I _hate_ him.” The corners of his mouth twitched down. “You're going to tell me to forgive him, aren't you? Start talking about the Companion's Way?”

The comb stopped moving—she put it aside and rested her hands on the sides of his face. “No, I'm not.”

“...you're not?”

“The Companion's Way is to _understand_ why people do what they do. It doesn't say anything about forgiveness. You don't have to forgive him if you don't think you can.”

He stared up at her for a moment, and then went from laying his head in her lap to burying his face in her skirt. “Cassie, I don't know what to _do._ ”

She patted his back gently. “That's why you're here.”

“I was so _happy._ ” His shoulders were shaking.

“I know, Thomas.” She reached for her comb again, thought better of it, and ran her fingers through his hair instead, scratching gently at his scalp and pretending that she couldn't feel the faint dampness of tears soaking into her skirt. “I know.”

They sat like that, quietly, until they heard a soft sound from Cassie's Cortex terminal. She looked over at it and sighed. “I'm sorry, Thomas, I have to take this call privately. Business matters. You can come back later if you need to talk more.”

The doctor nodded and stood, adjusting his tie. “I...thank you for your time, Cassie.”

She smiled at him as she moved over to the Cortex terminal. “You're always welcome here, Thomas.” Some fiddling with the terminal controls, and then her face lit up brilliantly as the call opened. “Justin! What a pleasure to hear from you again. I got your invitation earlier; I would _love_ to go to the party with you...”

The doctor slipped out of the shuttle, staying well out of sight of the terminal viewport, and closed the door softly behind him.

He'd barely made it five feet from the door before Noh-Varr was there. The Kree mercenary didn't _look_ distressed, but then, he _never_ did. When he looked past Thomas at the shuttle door, however, his eyebrows drew down. “What were you doing in there?”

“I hardly think that's your business. Let me by, please.”

Noh-Varr didn't move out of the way. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out—an apple? “I brought you this.”

“An _apple?_ You brought me an apple. I'm not sure what you're trying to pull now, but it's not going to work.”

“Please.”

“Please _what?_ ” Thomas tried to move around him and couldn't. “You haven't asked me anything.”

“I'm sorry.” Noh-Varr didn't meet his eyes.

The doctor bristled, suddenly angry. “You're _sorry?_ You're _sorry._ Get out of my _way._ ”

Still not moving, Noh-Varr watched him for a moment and then said, as if it was painful to him, “I love you.”

Thomas froze, staring. He looked at Noh-Varr, and at the apple in Noh-Varr's hand, the wounded look on the Kree's face.

Then his eyes narrowed, and he said, “Then you're worse than I thought.”

Finally Noh-Varr shifted to the side and let him pass. Once the doctor had disappeared into the passenger area of the ship, however, he slumped against the wall, staring at the apple he carried, and then took a bite and chewed it slowly.

“Comfort me with apples,” he said quietly to nothing. “For I am sick with love.”

\--

Teddy's voice over the intercom crowed, _“Landing on Madripoor in thirty minutes!”_

Kate raced into the cargo bay to check the locks and frowned. “Cassie, I thought you had work.”

“I do.” Cassie was checking the locks on her own shuttle. “Justin is sending a car for me.”

Kate's lip curled. “Classy enough to spring for a private car, but he still has to pay for a date?”

“Don't be like that, Kate. He's very sweet. An old family friend.”

“Because _that_ makes it better.”

“Kate...”

“You're not really going to convince me, Cassie. I just...don't see why you do it.”

“I do it because I like to make people happy.”

“There are a lot of ways to make people happy.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “I do it because I _like sex,_ Kate. Is that so awful? It _is_ supposed to be fun, I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it. _Yes,_ it's a good job, _yes,_ I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps, but if I didn't think it was _fun_ I would've done something else.”

Kate stared at her for a moment. “And you don't feel...compromised?”

“It's been _years,_ Katie. If you haven't gotten that by now then I don't know what else I can say to you. I'm tired of you looking at me sideways just because I went into a profession you disapprove of. I don't much like what you do either, but you don't see me complaining.” She finished checking the locks and turned away. “Eventually you'll have to get used to the idea that the life that pleases me isn't the one that pleases you.”

_“Everyone buckle down, we're about to hit atmo!”_

“Cassie...”

“We can talk later. When we're leaving Madripoor.” Cassie started to walk away. “Good afternoon, Captain.”

\--

When the ship landed, Cassie's car was already waiting to pick her up, and she walked out to it with her head held high, the small bag she'd packed in one hand. At the foot of the ramp she paused, turned—and waved to Nate and Jonas, who waved back and then glared at each other. Kate gritted her teeth, but didn't say anything until the car had pulled away. Once it was firmly out of earshot, she turned back to the others and said, “Split up. America, you and Noh are with me, we have our appointment in an hour. Nate, you take Brother Jonas and go get supplies for us. Altman, stay with the ship.”

Teddy frowned. “But I wanted to—”

“Tough shit, Altman. Stay with the ship.”

At the back of the group, Dr. Maximoff frowned. “What about my brother and me?”

“ _You_ two can stay on the ship and not get arrested. Altman will keep you company.”

“Fair enough.” He shrugged, then dug into his pocket for his wallet and turned to Jonas. “Here. Please bring books, if you're able to find anything decent to read in the markets.”

“Or cartoons. Or comics.” Billy was eating another apple, seated on the cargo bay floor leaning against Teddy's leg. “Those would be nice too.”

“I'll see what I can find.”

Noh-Varr shifted. “Doctor, I would be pleased to—”

“No thank you, Noh-Varr, I think I'll be _perfectly_ satisfied with whatever Jonas brings me.”

The others, watching out of the corners of their eyes, saw Noh-Varr's _visible_ lack of reaction. “As you wish, Doctor.”

A tense pause, and then Kate squared her shoulders and said, “Let's get going, people!”

They didn't get stopped until they were on their way _back_ from meeting the fence they'd contracted with, at which point they heard the clicks of several cocking guns behind them.

They turned, and Loki waved cheerfully to them from behind a line of three armed men. “Afternoon, Captain and friends! Always a pleasure to see you!” America moved forward, and he held up a hand. “Ah-ah-ah! While your nearness always _does_ excite me, Miss Chavez, I _do_ have all the guns.”

“Guns can't _hurt_ me, Loki.”

“I know, I know. But they _can_ hurt the Captain!” Loki beamed at the look of horrified realization on her face. “Come along, please, I have a business proposition to discuss with you.”

\--

They got back to the ship irritated and dusty, and Kate stomped through to the cockpit, ignored the startled look Billy gave her from his perch in Teddy's lap, and said, “Altman, I've got a job for you.”

\--

The gala was held in an enormous ballroom, theoretically part of some rich Madripori socialite's home in the same way that moons are theoretically included in one's description of a planet. The orchestra took up one full corner, playing extraordinarily dull classical music by the light of one of several floating chandeliers. Beside them the buffet tables creaked with the weight of loaded platters, a king's ransom in fresh foods masterfully cooked. A weapons detector had been set up at the door, just past the coat check and the doorman, and a master of ceremonies stood just past that, ready to announce all the guests as they arrived.

“Justin Hammer and Cassandra Lang!”

They sailed out onto the floor amidst a wave of whispers, Cassie beaming serenely while Justin waved to people he knew.

He leaned in close to her. “I _love_ watching people get all jealous like this. Makes me feel important.”

She laughed pleasantly. “You _are_ important, Justin.”

“Well, _yeah,_ otherwise you wouldn't be here with me, right? You been thinking about my offer?”

“I'm considering it.”

“Better life than on that ancient jalopy, right? Piece a' shit's gonna fall outta the sky any day now, and it'd be awful if it happened with your pretty face on it.”

Cassie laughed again, only rolling her eyes when Justin glanced away. “Please don't curse, Justin.”

“What, don't say it's a piece of shit? Whole Mockingbird line was, I ain't telling lies. Say that again, though, I like hearing you say my name.” He grinned at her.

She blushed attractively—the ability to blush on command was something she'd cultivated. “Justin...”

“I betcha at _least_ half this party wishes they were going to be hearing that from you tonight.”

Cassie suppressed another eye-roll and opened her mouth to respond when there was a shrill squeal from the weapons detector. They both glanced over, and saw its operator examine the machine's screen, look horrified, and begin to apologize profusely to whoever had set the alarms off. Then, just as they were turning back to the party, the master of ceremonies cleared his throat and announced, “Theodore Rufus Altman and guest!”

Cassie faltered, and Justin looked at her in surprise as he caught her elbow. “You ok, baby?”

\--

Teddy stared up at the ceiling, eyes wide. _“Wow.”_

Kate sighed and reached up to adjust his tie before fixing her own. The suits Loki had provided were attractive and expensive, but not well-fitted to them. “Don't stare, it makes you look like a hick.”

“I _am_ a hick. This is _amazing._ ” He continued to look around in delight, ignoring Kate's pained expression. “I wonder why they make the chandeliers float? It's pretty, but it seems like a terrible waste of energy.”

“They do it to show off.” She tugged him along toward one edge of the ballroom. “Look, we need to find our contact. Her name's Drew, Loki said she'd be wearing red with a yellow sash or something.”

“Why a sash?” Teddy was clearly not listening—he'd spotted the buffet table, and was gazing at it with the same kind of longing that drowning men aimed at a distant shore. “You think that's her?”

“Those _are_ red, yes, but they're _strawberries._ Not _people._ ”

“You don't know.” He couldn't look away. “She could be...you know, hiding underneath them.”

Kate stared at her companion for a moment and then groaned. “Just go, Altman. Have some sweets, don't do anything that'll embarrass me later.”

“Course not, Captain.” He drifted off toward the buffet.

“Oh my _god_ it's so hard to find a decent sidekick these days.”

\--

Teddy had gotten through four vast hothouse strawberries and was looking with some consideration at a fifth when he felt a...presence at his elbow, and turned to meet the predatory gaze of a curvaceous blonde in a green and yellow gown. “Ah. Evening, ma'am?”

She smiled toothily at him and extended a hand, palm down. “Amora.”

“Teddy Altman.” He seized her hand and shook it enthusiastically, vaguely puzzled by her dismayed glance downward at the gesture.

She recovered admirably, however. “I haven't seen you around before, Mr. Altman. Are you with one of the delegations?”

“Not...not exactly, Ms. Amora. I'm the pilot off Dawn's Archer? Transport ship? We just got into port this morning. Sweetest ship in the sky.”

 _“Really.”_ She moved forward. Teddy moved back and bumped into the buffet table. “Maybe you could tell me _all_ the news from the outer worlds.”

“Evening, Amora.”

Amora jolted upright—she'd been slowly inclining herself towards Teddy—and turned to glare. “Major Danvers. What a pleasure to see you.” She didn't look pleased.

The person who'd interrupted her—a tall woman in red and blue military dress, the decorations on her jacket centered around a large golden star—laughed cheerfully. “You're looking pretty tonight. Did you bite your latest boyfriend's head off before the party, or did he help you dress first?”

Amora sniffed. “Rude as ever, I see.”

“Yep.” Major Danvers grinned sunnily at her. “Shoo. Leave the boy alone.”

“I have _never_ been so insulted.”

“Go away now.”

Amora flounced off, looking offended.

Teddy let out a long breath. “Thanks, Major. Thought I was getting some signals there, but I wasn't sure how I was going to break it to her that I'm, ah...”

“Gay?”

“Well, I was going to say seeing someone, but yes, that too.”

Major Danvers laughed. “She wouldn't have taken it well, knowing her. Come on, come spend time with _my_ friends. We're _much_ more fun. Heard you telling her you're a pilot?”

“Yes, ma'am. Um. Major. I'm Teddy Altman, by the way.”

“Call me Carol.” She took his arm, pleased, and led him off towards a group of other military types. “You know, you remind me of an old wingman of mine...”

\--

Kate spotted a woman in a red uniform with a yellow sash across her chest and sighed. _“Finally.”_ She made her way across the room. “Ms. Jessica Drew?”

The woman in red raised an eyebrow. “ _Agent_ Drew. Do I know you?”

“We have a...mutual acquantance.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Did Loki send you?”

Kate suppressed another sigh. “Unfortunately, yes. I hear you don't think much of him?”

“I think he's a despicable little creep.”

“I don't think there's any call to be rude to despicable little creeps by suggesting that he's one of them.”

A pause, and then Jessica Drew nodded, smiling faintly. “True enough.”

“Agent Drew!” Justin Hammer was making his way over to them, Cassie on his arm. “We met last week, remember?”

Jessica gritted her teeth and straightened her back as he shook her hand vigorously. “Of course I remember you, Mr. Hammer.”

“So we were talking about SHIELD contracts, remember? You thought about my suggestions?”

Cassie and Kate were staring at each other, and after a moment Kate said, weakly, “You look pretty, Cassie.”

Justin blinked. “You know her, Cassie baby?”

“...yes, I do. Katie, this is Justin Hammer, I've told you about him before. Justin, this is Captain Kate Bishop, of the Dawn's Archer.”

At this point Kate's smile was more of a grimace. “It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hammer. Given that you seem to have something you wanted to discuss with Agent Drew, I hope you won't mind if I borrow your date for one dance?”

Taken aback, Justin nodded, and then watched with narrowed eyes as Kate led Cassie out onto the dance floor, one hand dropping to the other woman's waist.

As the music started, Cassie leaned forward and hissed, “Kate, what are you _doing_ here?”

“I've got a job to do, same as you. Doesn't make me any happier than it does you.”

They whirled in the figure. “And you brought _Teddy?_ Why not Nate? _He_ knows what to do at one of these parties.”

“...I was mean to him earlier, I figured I owed him one.”

“...well, he _does_ seem to be having fun.”

They spun past where he stood, just close enough to catch, “—and it turned out it'd been making that sound the whole time because he had the parking break on!”

“He's certainly keeping Major Danvers entertained.”

Kate faltered. “ _That's_ Warbird Danvers? Do you _know_ how many of my friends she shot down during the war?”

Cassie didn't even bother to respond to that.

“...but I _was_ telling the truth. You do look pretty.”

Cassie blushed. “Thank you, Kate. I _have_ missed hearing that from you.”

“You deserve a better life than being...being Hammer's paid date.”

“I deserve _exactly_ what I've chosen for myself. ...Justin wants me to stay with him.”

Another false step, almost throwing them out of the figure. “ _Please_ don't tell me you're considering it.”

“It could be nice.”

“But he's such a creep!”

“He's very good to me.”

“Nate would pine for you. Jonas too. And then they'll fight and kill each other and I'll be out a mechanic and a helpful but weirdly self-righteous android.”

Cassie's laugh was so bright and sudden that half the room turned, smiling to see her smile. “Kate, don't be silly!”

And the song was ending and _there_ was Justin Hammer, hauling Cassie away with far more roughness than was at all necessary. Kate frowned. “We were still talking.”

“Well, you're done now.” He didn't look happy. “Come on, Cassie.”

“What if she doesn't want to _go?_ ”

“I _paid_ her, I think it's my damn right to say whether she goes or not!”

Now _everyone_ was watching, and Cassie said, “Justin, Come on. Let's dance. I love this song.”

Kate wasn't letting it go, though. “You paid her, yeah, but you can't just drag her around like she's your toy.”

“What do _you_ care? She ain't _your_ wh—”

The crowd—and Cassie—gasped as Kate's fist connected with Justin Hammer's chin. He stumbled back, into a cluster of staring party-goers, and Kate cracked her knuckles menacingly. “Nobody calls my best friend names but me.”

From where he'd landed on the ground, Justin looked up at the person nearest him and said, “You saw that, right? That makes it official. Call it! That was official!”

Kate blinked. “What's official?”

The master of ceremonies boomed, “A duel is to be fought!”

“...wait, you still have _duels_ here? What is this, the stone age? Ok, though, you wanna go, tough guy? Let's go! Here, Cassie, hold my coat—”

“Kate.” Cassie shook her head, looking horrified. “Kate, it's not that kind of fight.” Justin was tugging on her arm now, dragging her along behind him as he stalked out of the ballroom. “See you tomorrow morning!”

Jessica Drew materialized at Kate's elbow. “So you'll be needing a second. Tell you right now, I'm volunteering. That was the funniest thing I've seen at one of these parties in ages.”

“What did she mean, it's not that kind of—”

“We should be able to find you a set of power armor _somewhere._ ”

“A set of _what?_ ”

\--

Noh-Varr, America, Nate, and Jonas were gathered in the cargo bay playing cards, Dr. Maximoff tucked into a corner with one of his new books, when the bay doors started to open. America frowned. “That went quickly—”

—and then the ramp lowered the rest of the way and they were faced with a small squadron of armed goons. In the middle of them stood Teddy, still resplendent in his high society clothes, with Loki standing by his side.

Loki waved to them. “Good evening, all! Your captain's decided to pick fights with rich men instead of doing proper business, so I'm here to see that you all stay put until I've got proof that Hammer's killed her! Or that she's killed him, that would work too. Actually I rather hope it's that. Better for business.”

Teddy waved to them, grinning awkwardly. “Hi?”

\--

Kate paced back and forth in the room she'd been locked into for the night. “Power armor. Why did it have to be power armor? Why not guns or swords or something? Can't we just kill each other like civilized people? Why do I have to get in a fucking _armor?_ ” The door opened behind her, and she jumped, startled. “Who's—Cassie?”

“Justin's sleeping, I don't have much time.” Cassie closed the door behind her and pulled a chip out of her sleeve. “I brought you the specs for the armor you're going to be using so you can review them. You know how to fight in power armor, right?”

“No! I hate power armor! I hate robots, I hate androids, I hate machines that try to act like people and power armor creeps me the _hell_ out?”

“Oh, for...well, sit down, then. I'll talk you through it.”

“...Cassie, how the hell do _you_ know how to fight in power armor?”

“I _don't._ But I've studied the art of conversing intelligently on any topic under any sun. I pick things up. Most of your conversations happen through so many levels of criminal code that you can't tell _what_ they're about.” She slotted the chip into the Cortex terminal Kate had been provided with. “Now sit down and I'll tell you about repulsors.”

\--

The card game had continued, but without Noh-Varr, who had immediately abandoned his hand, expression grim, and gone to sit in a spot where he could block Dr. Maximoff from the eyes of Loki's hired guns. Dr. Maximoff didn't look happy about it, but had not protested, and Teddy had happily taken Noh-Varr's place at the gaming table.

Nate leaned across the card table and murmured, “We need a distraction.”

“Hell _yes_ we need a distraction.” America pulled a card from the draw pile and glared at her hand. “I'm not letting that little shit keep me from giving Ka—the captain some backup.”

A commotion behind them, and they—and Loki's crew—turned to see that Billy Maximoff had emerged from the other half of the ship, still in his day clothes but looking sleepy and rumpled. Thomas had leapt to his feet, eyes wide. “Billy, go back to bed.”

Billy blinked owlishly at him. “I woke up and something bad was happening.”

“Go before they _see_ you.”

But it was too late. Loki himself had looked up from where he was halfway through eating an apple, and when he saw Billy his eyes went round. “Wait wait wait. We missed someone before? Who are _you?_ ”

Thomas tried to grab his brother's arm, but Billy brushed him off and wandered forward as if walking into a crowd of heavily armed mercenaries were the most normal thing in the world. “Secret.” He smiled sunnily at Loki. “That's a secret.”

Loki had gone bright red. “Do tell. I like secrets. You look like you've got _good_ secrets.”

“Got a few, I guess. I bet I could figure out some of yours too.” Billy drifted to a stop _just_ too close to Loki for it to be merely casual, expression absolutely serene. “You're different. You've got plenty of secrets too.” He leaned forward, mouth close to Loki's ear, and Teddy started to his feet. “I know about you, magpie.”

“I, uh, you do?” Loki's mouth worked pointlessly for a moment before he managed to continue with, “I mean. Yes! Ah. Maybe. Maybe we could. Discuss that? Privately?”

Billy regarded him for a moment and then said, coolly, “No, I don't think so.” Tapped Loki's chin. “Shouldn't stand with your mouth open like that. People might think you have something to say.” He began to drift back towards the door, pausing next to Teddy only long enough to say, “I'm going back to bed. Wake me up if anything actually happens, ok?”

Teddy nodded, dumbstruck.

Once the door had shut behind him Loki said, faintly, “There are all _sorts_ of things I'd like to talk about with him.”

The others were staring, open-mouthed, at where Billy had gone, and then Nate said, slowly, “We could have used that.”

\--

The day dawned bright and clear over the arena, and as the armor closed around her arms and legs Kate said, “You know, I'm _really_ not comfortable with this.”

“You shouldn't be.” Jessica Drew checked over the fastenings on the armor with a practiced eye. “Hammer may be a creep, but he's an _absolute_ terror in-ring. Dirty fighter. He's killed a lot of people. You don't stand a chance.”

“Oh, that's helpful.”

“But if you _do_ survive, you've definitely got my contract. _Without_ Loki.”

“Was it the punching that did it?”

“No, it's that you're going through with this instead of apologizing. Most people would have backed out by now. You seem reliable.”

“Or stupid.”

“World could use more stupid people like you.” Jessica thumped the shoulder-plate of the armor, knocking it shut the rest of the way. “Just so you know, though, this thing's a complete lemon. I'll be surprised if it doesn't lock up on you halfway through.”

Kate grimaced. “You're not being very encouraging here.”

“Wasn't trying to be. This is a _terrible_ plan.” Another pound on her other shoulder—that plate popped into place with a horrifying shriek of metal. “All right, you're all set. Knock 'em dead, Captain.”

The helmet telescoped out to cover her head, and Kate shuddered as the faceplate dropped on and walked out into the ring.

On the other side of the arena, Justin Hammer was getting into his own armor, a flashy piece of _very_ nice Stark Tech from the most recent line. He made a big show of having Cassie tie a scarf around his arm, like some kind of ancient knight's favor, and tossed off a salute to the small crowd of spectators, some of whom cheered.

Kate couldn't hear anything. Her ears were roaring. _I hate armors, I hate armors, it's going to shut down on me any second now and I'll be trapped..._ the announcer called the beginning of the duel, with their names and reasons for fighting, and she was deaf to it all.

And then the bell rang and she flexed her feet the way Cassie had told her to and rose into the air.

On the ground, Jessica Drew had moved to a spot where she could sit comfortably. Cassie was on the edge of the bench next to her, not chewing on her nails only through a clear force of will. The two armored figures in the air flew for each other, clashed briefly, fell back, and then clashed again, a fist-fight against the sky, and she said, “They...they look like they're doing all right.”

Jessica snorted. “Hardly. She's barely got any control of that thing. Guidance system's shot to hell. Going to go south right about...”

A repulsor blast, and Kate went flying backwards, slamming into the wall at the edge of the arena.

“...now.”

“Kate!”

On Jessica's other side, Major Danvers nodded approvingly. “Got guts, though. Did I hear right, Jessie? Did the guy say Kate Bishop?”

“That he did.”

“She was really something during the war. Shame she was on the wrong side.”

Cassie shot a momentary glare at her. “Kate's wonderful.”

“Never said she wasn't. I always liked her. But this was a _really_ stupid plan.”

At the edge of the arena, Kate rose into the air again, dove for Hammer, and managed a glancing blow before losing her guidance systems and spinning wildly out of control. “Ok. Ok, this looks bad.”

“You _bet_ it does.” Hammer darted forward and slammed an elbow into her arm, turning a triumphant backflip at the sound of cracking bone and Kate's scream. “Shouldn't get in the way of a man getting what he paid for, girlie.”

“You're a creep, Hammer.” Kate fired off a repulsor blast with her good arm, and he dodged effortlessly. “And you were treating her like property.”

“Hey, I'll stop doing it when she stops acting like it.” _He_ fired, and the blast hit her in the stomach—she folded almost completely in half, shouting, and fell for the ground, and he followed her, firing several more times. “In the mean time, girlie, stay outta my way.”

She hit the ground, and—her suit seized, locking her in place.

Hammer landed next to her, kicked her in the ribs for good measure, and then turned to the crowd, arms flung wide. “Yeah? Yeah? I got this!”

In the stands, Cassie had buried her face in her hands, and Jessica was looking disappointed. “You know, it was stupid, but for a second I thought she might have had a—oh, _this_ looks good.”

Hammer was still grandstanding, showing off for the crowd, and so he didn't see it when Kate's armor opened up and she pulled herself out of it, one arm clearly broken. The other arm was fine, though, and she stumbled forward, shook something out of her sleeve—

“Is that a _crossbow_ bolt? How'd she even keep that in there?”

Cassie lifted her head and stared. “Oh, god, Katie, what are you doing?”

—and stabbed the little bolt into one of the knee joints of Hammer's suit.

The servos locked with a tiny mechanical screech, and Hammer jolted forward. “Hey! Hey, that's _cheating!_ ”

Kate shrugged. “What can I say? I'm a cheater.” Then she moved around in front of him, slapped the manual release catch on his helmet, and punched him in the nose as soon as his face was visible. “But at least I when I meet a serious professional I treat her with some _respect._ ”

“Ib she wanded respegt she shouldn't've been a whore!”

She kicked him in the other knee, the one that _wasn't_ already locked, and grinned at the unpleasant “crunch” sound it made. “She's not a whore. She's a woman who knows what she wants. And she is _so_ much classier than you.” He fell to the ground with a crash, and she grinned wider.

Jessica and Cassie had rushed down from the stands, and Jessica looked Hammer over and said, “You going to kill him?”

“Why would I do that?”

“It's usually how these things go.”

Kate looked him over for a moment and then said, “Nah. He's a creep, everyone knows he's a creep, that's all I really care about.” A moment of consideration, and then she stomped on his hand. “That's for calling me 'girlie,' though. Come on, let's go talk business.” She offered Cassie her good arm. “Coming, Cass?”

Cassie paused, and then took her arm. “Yes, I think so.”

“Cassie! Baby! Waid, come bag, I didn't mean id!”

A pause, and then Cassie turned, reached into her sleeve, and produced a small purse, which she tossed onto Hammer's chest. The crowd hissed as she said, coolly, “Justin, you're a creep, and I'll be informing the Guild of your _astounding_ lack of courtesy. I hereby return your fee.”

The three women walked out of the arena together, and as they left Jessica said, “You know, Captain, we should really get you medical attention for that arm.”

Kate shrugged. “I've had worse.”

\--

Nobody on the ship had slept except for Billy; the entire night had been spent in the cargo bay, the crew of the Dawn's Archer making strained conversation with Loki and his men. For the most part, they had simply listened to Loki talk, which he was happy to do at length, although Dr. Maximoff had found it somewhat distressing that most of the conversation seemed to be about his brother.

“All right,” America murmured to the others. “Jonas and I have a plan. We need you to—”

The cargo bay doors opened, and Kate strode in with one arm in a cast and her crossbow in her good hand, Cassie following behind her with a cheerful smile on her face. “Morning, folks!”

Everyone started to their feet, and Jonas said, surprised, “Captain, what happened to your arm?”

“Oh, not much, not much. Hiya, Loki. Go away now.”

Loki blinked rapidly. “Excuse me, I think you're still working for—”

“Drew's outside, she wants to talk to you. Take your goons and _go away._ ”

Once the last of the goons had been shooed out of the cargo bay, she lifted the ramp and closed the doors and Teddy said, “So. Uh. How did it go?”

“Went ok.” She waved her cast so they could all see it. “Broke my arm. Punched a guy. Almost got trapped in a set of antique power armor. Good times. Missy, what are you—”

“You _idiot._ ” America seized Kate by the lapels of her coat, slapped her _quite_ hard, and then kissed her almost as hard. “You could have gotten _killed._ ”

Kate blinked, looking dazed. “Missy, did you just...?”

“Not the time to focus on that, we'll talk about that later. Right _now_ we're going to talk about you getting in _fights_ without _backup._ ”

Cassie folded her arms across her chest, smiling smugly. Nate moved over next to her elbow. “So how did it _really_ go?”

She shrugged. “It went all right. She got a good contract with Agent Drew.”

“And...your guy?”

“I gave him his money back. Publically.”

Nate choked. “Oh my _god._ He'll _never_ live that down.”

Dr. Maximoff had brushed off Noh-Varr's offer of assistance and gone over to frown at Kate's cast. “I'd like to take a look at that, if you don't mind. I don't trust these Madripori doctors, their medacad has terrible standards.”

Kate nodded. “Sounds good to me, Doctor. Missy, Agent Drew's waiting outside, you should go talk to her about the cargo.”

\--

The inspection of the captain's arm took very little time, and when Thomas returned to his bunk he found that Noh-Varr was sitting cross-legged on the floor, waiting for him.

Waiting for him with a _gun_ in his hand.

Thomas started back, hands blurring as he searched himself for any kind of weapon. “What are you doing here?”

Noh-Varr didn't look up at him. He gazed at the wall and said, “The religious beserkers of Tarnax IV immolate themselves when they find that they have acted contrary to their code. Shi'ar Imperial Guardsmen who betray the queen walk willingly into the line of fire. The samurai of ancient Japan fell upon their swords when they dishonored themselves.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I am not a Skrull berserker, nor am I Shi'ar, nor am I human. I am a warrior of the Kree, and as a traitor I do not have the right to decide my own fate.” _Now_ he looked up. “I betrayed you, Doctor. Do you want me dead?”

Thomas stared at him for a moment, wide-eyed, and then ground out, _“Yes.”_

“Then for my betrayal my life is yours.” And Noh-Varr handed him the gun.

He took it without thinking, and dropped it when he realized what he was holding. “I'm not going to shoot you!”

“...then you don't want me dead?”

A pause, and then Thomas drooped and said, “No. No, I don't.”

Noh-Varr reached into his pocket, and Thomas went tense until the mercenary produced an apple—the last of the crate, Thomas realized—and held out it to him. “I brought you this.”

Another pause, and then Thomas took the apple from him and sat down on the bed. “Well, since we've established that I'm not going to be killing you today, why are you here?”

“I wanted to tell you why I did it.”

“All right then.” Thomas took a bite of his apple. “Tell me.”

\--

“Cows.”

Cassie and Kate and America sat in a row on the edge of the catwalk, staring down into the hold, sharing between them a bottle of the horrendous moonshine Nate made in the engine room.

America took another shot. “You went through all that for a hold full of _cows._ ”

“Hey, don't knock it, it's good money.” Kate waved her cast cheerfully. “I broke my arm, you know.”

“Yes, Kate, we know.”

“And then you kissed me.”

Cassie laughed. “She's been trying to for a while, haven't you noticed?”

Kate blinked. “Really?”

America leaned back so she could look past Kate and meet Cassie's eyes. “She's not very quick on the uptake, is she?”

“No, she isn't.” Cassie grinned. “When we were in school together, before the war, it took her a full semester before she figured out I was flirting with her.”

Kate made a face. “I broke my arm, you know!”

“Yes, Kate.” America leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “We know.”

“And now my ship is full of cows.”

The three women looked down together at the cargo bay full of cows.

The cows looked back up at them and mooed.


	10. Burn The Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Maximoffs are kidnapped on a backwater planet--and the crew is delayed elsewhere. Can they be saved in time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a season break for YARBB, we return! Welcome to season 2 of _Into The Black_!

 Having a hold full of cows was starting to get old.

It wasn't the noise, or the crowding, or the fact that with the hold so occupied nobody could get any decent exercise. It wasn't that they had to keep making stops to pick up cattle feed. It wasn't even the _smell,_ although that was pretty bad.

It was the Holsteins.

They had an attitude problem.

Most of the herd were placid brown Guernseys, content to simply chew their cud, shit on the floor, and wait for the day they saw land again. There was, however, a _coterie_ of four black and white Holstein cows, who were very much _not_ content with their lot in life. They bit. They kicked. They got themselves up onto the catwalks and wandered into other parts of the ship. They _loathed_ Noh-Varr, who had finally been banned from the hold after he'd gone in to retrieve a piece of equipment and had almost shot one particularly ill-tempered steer who had tried to pin him to the wall.

Teddy, for some reason, was able to calm them down. They liked him. None of the other inhabitants of the Dawn's Archer were able to figure out _why,_ though, and in any case he hated the smell of cows and spent much more time than usual in the cockpit.

“Thought you grew up on a farm, Altman!” shouted Kate after one particularly bad encounter. “Shouldn't you be _used_ to the smell?”

“We did crops, not livestock,” Teddy shouted back. Then, after a moment's thought, he grabbed his microphone. “Laaaadies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking, thank you all again for flying Hawkingbird Air, and this is just a reminder that Captain Bishop is afraid of cows. Thought you all needed to remember that. Over.”

“Altman, I am going to _kill_ you—”

Setting down on Purity was something of a relief.

They had to land rather far off from the moon's one actual spaceport, both for reasons of covertcy and because the port, despite being in theory a livestock trading station, was ill-equipped for offloading cows. Agent Drew's contact, however, a man who'd only been identified to them as Schmidt, had a private landing stage and a decent enclosure into which they could let out the cows.

Nate beamed from his spot next to the mule as the herd charged out. “I can practically feel the stink leaving with them.”

Billy leaned against the enclosure fence, his chin on his hands, a beatific expression on his face. “After so much time in the sky it's easy to forget what it's like to be under it.”

Kate patted him on the shoulder. “And you get a while to enjoy it, Billy boy. You and your brother are heading into town.”

“I can't stay with the cows?”

“ _Hardly._ I'm dealing with unsavory men here; you don't need to get mixed up in it. Nate and Cassie'll go with you.”

“Personally I'm looking forward to a ride into town.” Thomas emerged from the ship, fixing his cuffs. “I think I've actually gotten _paler,_ cooped up in there.”

Billy snorted. “Nothing could make you paler.”

A few minutes later Nate brought out the mule, Cassie perched regally next to him in the front seat, and they were on their way.

As they disappeared down the road, a group of people approached on horses, led by a grim man with a military bearing and a face so gaunt it was nearly skeletal. America waved him over. “You Schmidt?”

He stared at her. “I am. Are you Captain Bishop?”

“That'd be _me._ ” Kate nodded to him. “Noh, keep lookout. Teddy, get the fucking Holsteins off my boat before you go do those checks. Now, Mr. Schmidt, let's get down to business.”

–

Thomas stared. “I'm still having difficulty with the idea that there are towns without bookstores.”

“It took me by surprise for almost a year and a half.” Cassie smiled at him as he helped her down from the mule. “Good luck with your parts hunt, Nate!”

Nate laughed. “Should be able to find what I need. In the dump if nowhere else. Stay out of trouble, you three.”

Billy jumped down last. “I think we can manage for one afternoon.”

“Here's hoping.” The engineer waved and drove off.

Cassie and the Maximoffs surveyed the town's single massive general store dubiously and then headed inside.

As they entered the store, Billy immediately diverted course toward a dusty rack of comics. Thomas moved to follow him, but Cassie put a hand on his wrist. “Just a moment, Doctor.”

He frowned as they stepped into an aisle of cooking pots. “Is something wrong, Cassie?”

“I wanted to ask how things are going with Noh-Varr. I see you've started talking to him again, at least?”

“Ah. Yes.” Thomas stared off into space for a moment, looking pained. “We talked. He told me a few things which put a somewhat different face on the situation.”

“Have you forgiven him, then? Don't let him pressure you.”

“...mostly. Not enough to...”

She pulled him into an embrace. “I understand.”

“Thank you.” He buried his face in her shoulder. “I don't know what I'd do without you. I don't know what _any_ of us would do without you.”

She chuckled. “Eat with your hands and get in trouble a lot more, probably.” And then, suddenly frowning, “Where did your brother wander off to?”

–

Billy walked. Sometimes, even now, he could feel the walls of the facility pressing in on him. He could almost _smell_ the harsh lights, the disinfectant, the ozone stink of _can't make it work._ Electricity moved under his skin, and he shoved it back. _I won't be that._

He had, he realized abruptly, left the store. He was in an unfamiliar part of town—not that any part of this town was familiar to him. In fact he seemed to have come upon some kind of festival, with music and dancing and children playing. It was nice.

Smiling, he meandered over to where someone was doing magic tricks, and laughingly let himself be pulled up to assist. “A stranger to these parts, eh? We've never met, couldn't have planned anything beforehand. Right, son?”

He nodded, and laughed more as the performer pulled scarves from his nose and coins from his ears.

“Billy!”

He looked up, startled.

Thomas was coming up through the crowd.

And he was being...followed?

“You scared me half to death!”

He _was_ being followed. By men in dark clothes, men that the townsfolk stepped around like they were dangerous. “Tommy, watch _out—_ ”

The black bag went over his brother's head only seconds before a similar one covered his own.

–

Schmidt drove a hard bargain. He'd discussed prices previously with Agent Drew, and Kate had all the details from _that_ talk, but suddenly he was dissatisfied. The cows looked unhealthy, or his men could not count them consistently, or delivery had taken too long, or he wanted to know details about their feed. He poked and prodded and haggled. Kate found herself disliking him intensely, but she didn't want him _too_ angry—he _was_ taking the damn cows off her hands.

They were finally, _finally_ coming to an agreement, money was changing hands, when Noh-Varr shouted, “Incoming!”

There was a static crackle from the megaphone carried by the suddenly approaching riders, and then a boom of, _“Johann Schmidt and associates, you are bound by law to stand down. We are prepared to use lethal force if you do not comply.”_

Kate started to raise her hands, but before she could say anything, Schmidt growled a curse and _fired._

And then the air was filled with bullets.

In the middle of the firefight, as Kate was swearing and trying to reload her crossbow, she heard an engine roar. The mule crested the horizon, Nate pushing it as hard as he could while Cassie shrieked beside him. “Captain!”

“Nate, get the hell out of the line of fire! And where the hell are the other two?”

“That's the problem! They've been—”

He slumped over the wheel of the mule.

Cassie said something that had America making a startled choking noise and grabbed the wheel. The engine screeched as she stomped on the pedal, roaring past the law enforcement goons, past Schmidt's men, past Kate and America and Noh-Varr into the ship. She skidded to a stop in the hold, catching Nate before he could fall. “He's _hit!_ ”

The other three hurried in behind her, America slapping the button to close the hold. Bullets pinged off the lock as it shut, that sound accompanied by Schmidt's sulphurous cursing and the thunder of the now-stampeding cattle.

“This is bad. He's gutshot.” Cassie had already taken off her outer robe, using it to swath Nate's chest and stomach. “Oh, Nate, come on...”

He blinked owlishly at her. “Did you get really big all of a sudden?”

Kate was fuming. “Well, where the hell is my _doctor?_ And my...little crazy guy?”

“Taken.” Now Cassie was tearing apart another later of clothing for bandages. “Apparently there's an isolationist village out in the hills, and sometimes they snatch people. They've had sickness recently; someone must have heard me call Thomas Doctor.”

Noh-Varr's face was stone. “We have to go get them.”

“It can wait.”

He whirled on Kate. _“What?”_

She stared up at him, red-faced. “Nate is _dying._ He needs medical attention. That takes precedence. Altman! Where's the nearest facility with a surgeon?”

_“After the local clinic—attached to the sheriff's, so that's a no go—there's...an Alliance ship not far from here. A troop transport. They'll have medical.”_

“What _else,_ Altman?”

_“Nothing else. Not within reach.”_

“We will go _find the Maximoffs,_ ” Noh-Varr snarled. “ _Thomas_ can help Nate.”

Kate looked at him, then at Nate's pale face and Cassie's shredded robe. “No time. We don't know where they went. Missy! Triage! Altman, take us out.” She spat into the corner of the bay. “We're going to go grovel.”

–

Thomas woke up with a headache and already angry. “Where the hell am I? Where's my brother?”

He couldn't see. Cloth covered his face, a few points of light filtering through it. But he could _hear_ people, talking softly. “He's awake.”

The bag got pulled off his head, and he sputtered angrily as light struck his eyes. “What's the meaning of this?”

A smiling face hovered over him. “Welcome to Godly, Doctor. We're happy to have you.”

“I demand to— _what?_ ”

“I'm Josh.” The man beamed at him, holding out a hand. “We've waited for you for some time. I hope you can help us.”

Thomas sat up, scowling. “What's going _on_ here? And _where_ is my _brother?_ ”

“Your brother is well. He's having dinner right now. And I apologize if our ways seem...rough.” Josh looked away, seeming embarrassed. “So few are willing to travel out this far that we have to take our safety into our own hands.”

“By _kidnapping_ people?”

“Please. Headman Pierce's crew are _deliverers._ It's God's will that you should come to us. Reverend Stryker said we would find a doctor.” Josh nodded to him. “And we did.”

Before Thomas could reply, he heard a pitiful hacking cough. He frowned and looked over—at a row of cots, filled with sweating, sickly people. “What happened here?”

Josh's face fell. “A sickness. I do what I can, but I have no training, and our supplies are limited. I don't know what to do with them.”

“Get me whatever you have.” Thomas rolled his sleeves up and went over to the bedside of the first patient, a teenage girl whose head lolled on her shoulder. “I won't be staying for long—”

“You don't have any choice, Doctor.”

“ _I won't be staying for long,_ since the captain will come _get_ me, but I'll do what I can.”

–

The troop transport MAS Sword was massive, a hulk that blotted out stars, a moving night within the night. Dawn's Archer was dwarfed just by its _hangar_ as Teddy touched down carefully in the space he'd been directed to. The pilot's face was white and pinched. He hadn't spoken to anyone since he'd learned of the Maximoffs' disappearance. Noh-Varr had been locked into his bunk.

As Kate and America descended the ramp with Nate's stretcher they were met by a small contingent of soliders, headed by a striking woman with green hair. She nodded to Kate. “Captain Bishop, I presume.”

“That's me. You'd be Commander Brand?”

“Correct.” Brand waved three soldiers over to the stretcher. “You three, get this man to medical, double-time.”

“Aye, Commander.”

“Take the shuttleway, it's clearly an emergency. Bishop, you and the rest of your crew are under arrest. Troops, take them into custody.”

America's eyes went wide. “What? You—get your hands off me, jacko.”

Brand raised an eyebrow. “You're arguing? Really? You want the charges alphabetically, or in descending order by number of counts?”

“Excuse me.”

They all jumped. Jonas had appeared from the passenger quarters, walking in his unnervingly quiet way. Brand frowned. “You a passenger? What's a droid preacher doing on a smuggling ship?”

“I have my reasons. If I could speak to you for a moment?”

Still frowning, Brand nodded and stepped aside with Jonas. They spoke quietly for a few minutes. At one point Jonas held out a hand, a small display lighting up in the center of his palm.

When they were done, Brand looked deeply disturbed. She turned to Kate. “Charges are, for the moment, dropped.”

Kate jumped. “They are? What? I mean of course they are, they were bullshit to begin with.”

“Welcome to the MAS Sword.” Brand glanced over at Jonas uncertainly. “We'll be eating dinner in the mess in an hour. As my guests it would please me if you sat at my table.

–

Billy returned from his dinner not long after Thomas began work, but the doctor barely noticed. He was sweating, his sleeves rolled up to the elbow, muttering a continuous line of curses on the village, their medical facilities, the limited supplies, and the government that had failed to assist them. He went to each bed in turn, Josh trailing behind him with the medical bag and acting as nurse, and in his wake people slept more soundly, breathed more easily, and seemed in general more comfortable.

It barely took a glance for Billy to see that his brother was occupied. That look was one he knew well. So he looked around, spotted a small shelf of books, and took down one that looked interesting.

A child in one of the beds was watching him with interest, and he smiled at her. “Would you like me to read to you?”

Not long after, a teenage boy showed up with a covered tray of food, and Josh tugged at Thomas' sleeve. “Doctor. You need to eat.”

“Not now, not now...”

“Doctor, you've been working non-stop. You need to eat.” Josh smiled ingratiatingly. “We've been waiting for some time, we can wait a little while longer. Eat. We've brought you soup.”

Billy didn't even look up from reading to the children. “Tommy, what would Mom say?”

Thomas mopped at his forehead with his sleeve. “Right, right. 'Thomas, if you don't eat something you'll run yourself to death.' Sorry. Sorry. Thank you, Josh.” And he slumped right onto the floor, leaning against the foot of a cot, and accepted the proferred tray of food with exhausted greed.

Barely half an hour later, though, he was working again, patient by patient. “This is unacceptable,” he said at one point. “Why haven't these people been taken to the clinic?”

“It's forbidden.” Josh passed him a towel. “Only Pierce's crew may leave the village. We don't wish to be contaminated by the impure world.”

Thomas snorted. “Idiocy. The world's a fucking mess, but that's no reason to hide from it. Especially not when people are dying.”

“It's the outside world that _brings_ death.”

“Are you _stupid?_ This sickness you've got here comes from _rot._ Poorly kept _meat._ The fault belongs to whoever runs your stores or slaughters your livestock, not some impurity in the _world._ Here, sweetheart,” to the girl he was tending, “drink this.”

Josh frowned. “In the meat?”

“Yes. The meat. I know you're isolated here, but I'd hope that at least _one_ of you would know about hygiene and refrigeration.”

He worked for three more hours, barely stopping for water, while in the corner Billy had attracted every child in the infirmary with his reading. Finally, though, the last patient had been seen to, and Thomas collapsed onto an empty cot.

Josh brought him a pitcher of water and then went over to the overloaded cot where Billy was reading. “Children. It's time to go back to your beds. You need rest, and so does the doctor's brother—I'm sorry, what's your name?”

“Billy.” Billy smiled at him. “You go to bed, kids. Sleep will help you get better. I promise I'll read to you more tomorrow.”

Pleased, Josh tucked the children into their cots. The doctor, he saw, had already fallen asleep, and the patients were all breathing more easily.

The last boy he tucked in said, sleepily, “I like the doctor's brother.”

“He's very kind, isn't he? I'm glad he's come to stay with us.”

“Me too.” The boy nestled down in his blankets. “He's a good reader. He makes the pictures move.”

Josh's hand went suddenly still in the middle of straightening the pillow. “He does what?”

–

Nate had gone into emergency surgery immediately—with, they'd been informed, the surgeon's compliments on America's triage skills, as well as a reassurance that nothing vital had been hit. Said surgeon was apparently one of the best that the Avengers military had to offer, and the ship's medical bay was stocked with the finest equipment available. The result of this was that Nate actually ate dinner with them, though he looked pale and arrived half an hour late, and was pronounced fit to leave safely as long as he agreed to a few hours of bed rest in the medical bay after the meal.

When she finally had a free moment, though, the first thing Kate did wasn't go talk to her engineer, it was to pull Jonas aside. “What the _hell_ was the stunt you pulled back there?”

He was far too calm to tolerate. “I convinced them to drop the charges.”

She scowled. “ _Some_ day you're going to tell me how you did it.”

“No, I don't think I am.”

–

Thomas woke to the sounds of an angry crowd and the feeling of his brother diving under the covers next to him. He sat bolt upright and stared into the faces of a mob, headed by two older men, Josh standing next to them. “What's going on?”

One of the leading men—a graying patriarch in a priest's collar, presumably the Reverend Stryker Josh had mentioned—pointed to Billy. “He is impure, and he brings his impurity upon us.”

“Please.” Josh was tugging at his elbow. “Reverend, this is a place of rest and healing. Not here. You're disturbing the ill.”

“You're the one who alerted us to the impure presence, Foley.” The other leader had to be Headman Pierce. “It won't take long.”

Thomas had managed to sit up at this point, his arm around his brother. “My brother's not _impure,_ that's ridiculous! What are your charges?”

“Witchcraft.” Stryker looked almost pleased to pronounce it. “He moved the images in the childrens' books, and his eyes glowed with the Devil's light as he did it.”

_“Billy, is that true?”_

_“I wanted to make them smile. I didn't think it would hurt anyone.”_

“Billy has a _gift!_ He's not a _witch,_ he's _talented!_ What right have you got to say he's impure?”

“God's right.” Stryker adjusted his collar, drawing himself up. “Who adjured us to stamp out the impurities of the world. He is the witch's breed, and he must be cleansed with fire.”

The mob surged forward, falling upon Billy and dragging him from the bed and out the infirmary door. Thomas chased after them, and was horrified to see that they had already prepared a bonfire, around a slapdash wooden platform from which there rose a tall stake.

He caught Josh's wrist. “ _Stop_ them!”

Josh shook his head, looking miserable. “I'm sorry. I know he's your brother, and you love him. But I couldn't risk him bringing more sickness to my patients with his impurity.”

“Have you not listened to a _single_ word I've said? I—you know what, _I give up._ You are _hopeless._ ” Pushing the other man out of the way, he charged up to the platform and started to work at the ropes that held Billy to the stake. “Just hold still so I can work.”

Billy smiled nervously at him. “It's ok, Tommy. I really only get you in trouble anyway.”

“Don't be an idiot, Billy. I disgraced my name for you; I'm not letting you go without a fight. _Fuck!_ ” The knots, tied by people in a panic, were pulled too tight to loosen.

“You'll _die,_ though,” Billy said as Thomas wrapped his arms around him.

“I was born with you. I grew up with you. And if it's necessary I'll die with you.” Thomas held on tight. “We're Maximoffs, right?”

_“Burn the witch!”_

“We stick together.” He turned his head to shout to the crowd, “Let my brother down or you lose me too!”

“It's too late for that.” Reverend Stryker was at the forefront of the crowd with a burning torch. “Thus do we do God's will, cleansing the world of its impurities and—”

There was _light._

The crowd shrieked, looking up at the sky, and Billy said with sudden wonder, “Tommy. Tommy, _look._ ”

Thomas squinted. “What _is_ it?”

“It's the Archer.”

There was a hiss as the hatch opened, and then the platform shook with the impact of two pairs of booted feet.

Noh-Varr held his guns on the crowd with a not-quite-nonchalant air that bespoke great suppressed fury. “You have taken something of ours.”

Teddy _roared._

Beside Stryker, Pierce brandished his own torch. “We're doing God's will!”

There was a deafening...throat-clearing sound? And then as America dropped from the ship on a line, pulling two other lines with her, Nate's voice crackled out of the ship's external PA system. _“Reverend William Stryker? Headman Donald Pierce?”_

The two patriarchs froze. Stryker said, “Who speaks?”

America rolled her eyes. “We never should've let Nate drive.” She sliced through Billy's bindings. “He's got all these dramatic impulses. If we let him he'll shout so much he'll go purple.”

 _“I come bearing a message. From God.”_ Nate sounded like he was trying not to laugh. _“_ _They say, you can take your torch and stick it where the sun don't shine. That's verbatim, I promise you.”_

The priest sputtered, going red. Headman Pierce made to move toward the platform with several of the villagers, but stopped when he found that Noh-Varr was pointing a gun at his head, and stepped _backward_ when Teddy let out a snarl shocking in its animalistic fury.

America grinned at the crowd. “Hey there, folks. This is just a friendly reminder not to kidnap people.” She cracked her knuckles loudly. “And that the Hawkingbird takes care of her own.”

Kate's voice on the PA said, _“Don't call her that!”_

Noh-Varr grabbed one of the dangling lines, clipped it to his belt, and offered a hand to Thomas. “Doctor. If you would?”

Thomas took his hand, and made an indignant noise as the Kree pulled him in close and then started the automated line reel. Beside them, Teddy rose slowly with Billy cradled in his arms.

America was the last up. Before she turned her line on, she shrugged off a backpack and tossed it to Josh. He stared at it. “What's this?”

“Avengers military grade medical supplies. We hear you've had sickness.”

“Why...why would you bring us this after what we did?”

She shrugged. “Because we're the good guys.”

And she rose up into the ship.

–

In the passenger common area Teddy put Billy down on the couch and _growled_ when he saw a hand-shaped bruise on the other man's forearm. “I'm going to go back and kill them.”

“Teddy.” Billy rested a hand on the side of his face. “Calm down. I'm fine.”

“You're _fine?_ ” Teddy huffed. “They almost _killed_ you.”

Billy's shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly. “That might not have been bad. I wouldn't be causing you—”

_“Billy.”_

He jumped at the tone of Teddy's voice. “What?”

“You're crew. We care about you. The captain cares. America cares. Cassie and Nate and Jonas care, they don't give a shit that sometimes you cause trouble. Sometimes we _all_ cause trouble. Your _brother_ would go _berserk_ if we let you get killed.” Teddy took a deep breath, clearly trying to force himself to calm down. “And I would've—I would—look, you're not allowed to die. Those are the rules.”

“That's only one rule.”

“I don't care, it's a very big one, it counts as five, it's the _rules._ No dying. Very important.” Teddy had been leaning in closer and closer to Billy as he spoke; at this point he was effectively on top of him on the couch. “Got it? No death. None.”

Billy said, breathlessly, “You should rescue me more often, it's very attractive.”

Teddy turned bright red. “What?”

“You know, I'm feeling really tired after my near-death experience. Which won't happen again.” Billy tried for a sly smile. “Don't you think I should be resting in bed?”

“I. I, uh...” That seemed to have knocked the wind out of Teddy entirely. “I thought you said you weren't ready.”

“I wasn't. But then I almost got burned as a witch.”

Teddy had gotten off the couch and picked Billy up in bare seconds.

–

“You could have _died,_ ” Noh-Varr snarled as he popped buttons off Thomas' vest.

“Technically that's always true. Do you _know_ how many ways in the 'verse there are to die?” Thomas was pulling at Noh-Varr's belt. “Did the captain really have to lock you up?”

“We _lost_ you. We lost you _both._ ” There was a spray of shirt buttons as Noh-Varr grabbed Thomas' collar and _pulled._ “I was _afraid._ I'm a Kree warrior, I don't feel _fear._ ”

“You should rescue me more often, it's very attractive. Why is your shirt still on?”

“If you put yourself in more situations where I _have_ to rescue you then I'm going to tie you to the bed and only let you up for meals and to perform surgery.”

“ _There's_ a thought.”

Noh-Varr lifted him, wrapping Thomas' legs around his waist. “I have treated you disgracefully. I didn't want to lose you before things had been made right between us. And after that, never.”

“Never? Mm—”

“Never. The Maximoffs are safe with me. _You_ are safe with me.” Noh-Varr buried his face in the crook where Thomas' neck met his shoulder. “I love you.”

Thomas clutched at his hair. “You said that before. I thought you were lying.”

“No.”

“I forgive you.”

–

“Hawkingbird.”

“Don't _call_ me that!”

“Birdy.”

“No!”

“Hawky.”

“Oh my _god._ ”

“That settles it, you're Hawky.”

Nate groaned, his head thudding against the back of the pilot's chair. “Look, ladies, I have a healing gut wound here and our illustrious pilot is too busy getting laid to relieve me. Could you two _please_ take your gross cuteness somewhere private?”

**Author's Note:**

> Same as I always say. If you like it, please let me know!


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